Education of a Jedi
by Morwen Tindomerel
Summary: After leaving Yoda Luke gets a Padawan Master. The first story of the DaiMen Jinn AU series. Unfinished.
1. Luke Gets A New Master

"Welcome to Dagobah." Dai-Men Jinn said brightly as the shuttle finally juddered to a halt. His two companions looked out the ports at the uninviting, befogged swampscape; at each other; at him. Their silence was eloquent.

"It's nice and damp, you should both like that." he offered propitiatingly.

Xhosa glanced at the climate gauges, shuddered. "Dit-dit-brrriiiiit! To cold!" the big athropod declared firmly.

Sylkie looked at the grey scummed pools, mouth twisting in a grimace. "I wouldn't swim in that water for all the credits in the Imperial treasury!"

"Very wise," Dai-Men answered, "I understand the aquatic life is mostly carnivorous and usually hungry."

The little otter-like being rolled her large eyes ceilingward. "Mavelous!"

Dai-men swiveled the pilot's chair to face his two friends, Sylkie in the co-pilot's seat and Xhosa hunched at the back of the cockpit. "I want you both to stay in the ship, I mean it this time!"

They exchanged another look. "Tch-chuuuk! Don't worry!" the athropod clicked.

"Funny place for a Jedi Master to hide." Sylkie fretted.

Dai-Men stopped trying to squeeze past Xhosa to the hatch and shot a quick smile back at her. "On the contrary, who in their right mind would look here?"

The translucent image that was Obi-Wan Kenobi's manifestation on the material plane hovered near the Imperial Shuttle waiting. Finally a ramp lowered and a man robed in Jedi brown emerged. And the apparition rippled as Kenobi's control faltered.

The family resemblance had always been strong but the addition of twenty years had made it uncanny. It could almost have been Qui-Gon Jinn standing there. His son had the same massive physical presence and leonine features but Dai-Men's long hair and short beard were a darker brown than his father's had been. Obi-Wan counted the years...yes, Dai-Men should be almost the same age as Qui-Gon had been when he died. Quickly he shoved the thought away. Even after forty years and his own death that memory still hurt.

Dai-Men stopped a pace or so away and smiled, "Master Obi-Wan. You're looking well for a dead man." The deep, soft voice was also very like his father's. As was the smile in the deep set eyes.

Obi-Wan smiled in response let his attention slide past his Master's son to the shuttle. "You aren't alone." It wasn't a question.

"I have two friends with me." Dai-Men admitted, "They'll stay on the ship -" shot a quick, rueful look over his shoulder. "I hope!"

Obi-wan laughed. "Just like your father, always picking up strays."

"Or perhaps I'm the stray that they picked up." Dai-Men smiled, then turned seriously, "I heard Yoda's call, what does he want of me?"

Obi-Wan began to lead the way up the path to Yoda's house, Dai-Men keeping pace beside him. "You will have heard of Anakin's son, Luke Skywalker -"

"I've met him." Dai-Men replied, then elaborated in response to Obi-Wan's sharp, startled look. "I was curious. I sensed your influence, saw Yoda's in his future," he shrugged, "Concluded he needed no help from me and returned to other things." then gave the elder Master a sidelong glance from under lightly knit brows. "The Force is strong in him."

"He too is like his father, willful and stubborn." Obi-Wan's face reflected barely controlled pain and deep concern. "He left Yoda too soon. He promised to return but we can't afford to lose the time. In any case it's not Yoda's teaching he needs now but a Padawan Master."

Dai-Men came to a full stop, eyes wide with astonishment. "You mean me?"

"There is no one else." Obi-Wan returned, then shook his head sharply. "I didn't mean -"

But Dai-Men's voice held only amusement. "I understand."

"I wonder if you do." Obi-Wan said quietly.

Yoda was sitting on a hummock in front of his little house. He raised his head as the two Jedi entered the clearing and directed a searching look at the newcomer. Like his father he is. the ancient Master thought, and his heart contracted at the memory of Qui-Gon Jinn. His greatest failure in eight hundred years of training Jedi.

Dai-Men went down on one knee before him, not in obeisance but to put himself on a comfortable conversational level, and smiled with tangible warmth. "Master Yoda, it's good to see you."

"And you also, Small One."

Suppressed laughter danced in the dark blue eyes at the incongruity of his old pet name. "Obi-Wan tells me you want help with your latest apprentice?"

Yoda bowed his head. "Run off he did, to face Vader, though unready he was."

"He seems to have survived the experience." Dai-Men offered.

"The Force was with him." Yoda conceeded, "Protected was he."

Dai-Men's eyes focused on a point beyond the old Master's shoulder. "I wonder, would Anakin really kill his son?"

"Anakin Skywalker no longer exists." that was Obi-Wan, radiating grief and pain. "He has been devoured by the Dark Side. There is only Vader now."

"I wonder," Dai-Men repeated softly, "Anakin was no ordinary man, no ordinary Jedi..."

"Once fallen to the Dark Side there is no returning." Yoda stated flatly.

Dai-Men bowed his head but the two old Masters didn't need the Force to sense his disagreement. Yoda snorted. "Stubborn are you, like your father."

"Father believed in Anakin." Dai-Men returned quietly. "And - I find I do too." he shook his head pensively. "I have a feeling..." then his eyes refocused on the present and he smiled reassuringly at his seniors. "But we were talking about Luke."

"Incomplete is his training." Yoda was visibly and uncharacteristically troubled. "Short is the time, taught he must be!"

"I can teach him to use a lightsabre at least." Dai-Men offered.

"More must you teach!" the Old Master responded with unexpected vehemence. "Your courage, your trust in the Force, these must he learn!"

"I'll do my best, Master." Dai-Men said, a little taken aback.

"Wrong have I been." Yoda continued more quietly but even more startlingly. "Mistakes have I made, with your father and with you....imbalance corrected must be." suddenly his eyes opened wide, blazing into Dai-Men's. "Your task will that be, your destiny!"

"Yes, Master." was all his former student found to say. He shot a quick look at Obi-Wan only to see his own astonishment reflected back at him. The unexpected fire faded. Yoda drooped, eyes nearly closing.

"You should rest, Master." Obi-Wan said gently.

"Yes, yes, old and weak have I become, no more use can I be."

"You have done your part, Master." Dai-Men said warmly, certainty ringing in his voice. "Now you must let go and trust in the Force."

Yoda's long mouth curled. "Teach Luke. Too old am I to learn."

"I will." Dai-Men promised.

Luke sat on his bunk trying to meditate as Yoda had taught him, but with little success distracted as he was with worry about Leia.

His new Jedi sensitivity told him she was lonely for Han, and afraid for him, but she refused to acknowledge those feelings burying herself in planning sessions and liaison work. Not sleeping and barely eating. Luke didn't know how to help her.

The comlink on the locker switched on. "Commander Skywalker?"

He opened his eyes giving up for the time being. "Go ahead."

"We just pulled in a freighter, sir -"

"Way out here?" Luke interrupted, incredulous. "Some kind of nav. failure?"

"No, sir, the captain says he was looking for you."

"Me!" Luke just managed not to squeak, and fought down an unJedi-like surge of alarm. "How'd he know where to find us? Is he one of ours?"

"No, sir, not one of our operatives." an uncertain pause. "He says he followed his feelings."

Luke's breath caught. Another Jedi? who else would just that phrase? "Where are you?"

"Holding are B-89."

"I'll be right down."

Luke barrelled into the security holding room and skidded to an abrupt halt at the sight of the tall, brown robed figure seated across from the female security officer. "Deak?" he wheezed.

"Dai-Men Jinn." the other corrected, smiling. "Yoda tells me you're in need of a sword master."

"You are a Jedi." Luke whispered, stunned. Then; "Yoda sent you?" Dai-Men nodded.

"Excuse me, sir," the security officer broke in, "do you know this man?"

"What?" Luke asked blankly, then the question registered. "Yeah, I know him. I can vouch for him."

"Very well, sir, then I'll release him into your custody."

"That'll be fine." Luke said absently, trying to sort the questions crowding his brain into some kind of coherent order.

The officer rose to leave but was stopped mid-step by a query from her former prisoner. "Does that mean my companions are now free to leave our ship?"

"If Commander Skywalker is willing to take responsibility for them."

"Sure." said Luke, attention still focused on his new teacher.

"Then let's go collect them." said Dai-men briskly.

"Luke!" The two Jedi turned to see a white gowned Princess Leia hurrying down the passage towards them and waited for her to catch up. She came to a slightly breathless halt, gathered her dignity around her and favored Dai-Men with a look of barely disguised suspicion.

Luke introduced them. "Princess Leia Organa, Master Dai-Men Jinn."

She nodded stiffly in response to Dai-men's bow and asked drily, "Another Jedi Master? there seem to be a lot of you."

Dai-Men smiled at her. "Just Master Yoda and me I'm afraid."

Leia's hostility visibly increased. Uh Oh. Luke thought unhappily. Mentioning Yoda had been a mistake. Through a reasoning process he didn't even begin to understand Leia had settled the blame for everything that had gone wrong in Cloud City squarely upon the little Jedi Master.

"We were just going down to the hanger deck to collect the Master's companions." he said hastily.

"More Jedi?" Leia drawled, eyebrows arching.

Dai-Men shook his head. "Just friends. Actually your Highness," he continued as they resumed walking, Leia between them. "the Alliance might find their talents useful. Sylkie has a remarkable facility for languages and codes -"

"We have droids for that." The Princess interrupted rudely.

The tall Jedi Master gave her a look of mild reproof. "Droids have no intuition, your Highness, their logic is crude, too mechanical. They miss subtleties obvious to an organic."

Luke pinched her arm. She glared at him and he returned a warning look. Mind your manners, Leia, that's a Jedi Master you're talking too!

"And your other friend?" she asked in a more conciliatory tone turning pointedly back to Dai-Men.

"Xhosa's specialty is multi-dimensional geometry."

"That's certainly something we can use." Leia managed to sound almost enthusiastic. "we've got a real shortage of command and control staff."

Dai-Men started to answer, then looked away attention caught by something undetectable to the others. "Oh no," he breathed, "not again!" and strode rapidly ahead brown robe billowing behind him.

Luke and the Princess exchanged a bewildered look and increased their own pace. Soon they could hear it too; a frantic chittering like a type 14 calculator droid having a nervous breakdown. The three of them rounded the final bend to the hanger, Dai-Men several yards in the lead, and were confronted by an enormous insectoid wedged tightly halfway through the personnel hatch. Luke and Leia came to a full stop in sheer suprise but Dai-Men went right up to the creature.

"Calm down, Xhosa." he half scolded, half soothed. "Panic is uncecessary and unhelpful."

"Dit-dit-Briittttt-choo-uk! Stuck!"

"I can see that." the Master replied, examining the situation. The athropod had apparently tried to get through the human sized hatch by crouching down and turning sideways. It hadn't worked. Only his upper thorax and three out of four arms had made it through. A powerful, grasshopper-like leg was just visible, painfully doubled beneath him, but the rest of Xhosa was still in the hanger.

"I told him he couldn't make it." an irritable voice snapped. Dai-Men took out a comlink, and spoke into it. "No I told-you-sos please, Sylkie. Constructive suggestions only, if you have any."

"Since most of Xhosa's still on our side I suggest you push and we pull." she answered.

"We?" Dai-Men queried.

"Me, two humans and a Mon Calamari." the comlink replied. "I think they want their door back. Xhosa! stop kicking at them, they're trying to help!"

"Triiiilllllck! Tickles!" the insect complained.

"Control yourself." The Master ordered. He placed his hands flat against the creature's purplish chiton, just above and below the uppermost right arm. "Ready?"

Another " Ready," came from the comlink.

Luke sensed a gathering of the Force and realized Dai-Men intended to use more than simple muscle to unwedge his friend. "Now!" the Master ordered and Xhosa popped out of the hatch like a cork from a bottle. Dai-Men caught himself on the frame as insectoid and pilots skidded in a tangle across the hanger deck.

A moist explosion made Luke turn. Leia had backed herself against a support strut with both hand clasped tightly over her mouth, a tear trickling down one bright pink cheek. He took an alarmed step towards her. "Are you all right?"

She nodded violently and he suddenly realized she was trying to contain her laughter. She unprised one hand and gestured emphatically towards the hatchway. Grinning a little he obediently returned his attention to the hanger.

Dai-Men Jinn was helping the sprawled pilots to their feet with apologies and thanks. Luke could see the men's annoyance melting under the influence of the Master's charm.

He moved aside as the three pilots filed out past him, returned their salute then joined Dai-Men and his friends in the hanger. The Jedi Master stood, arms folded into the sleeves of his robe, next to the giant bug. Xhosa was at least nine feet tall his broad upper and lower thorax purple on back and sides and a delicate blue in front. His valentine shaped head was a soft lavender with feathery antennae above glittering black compound eyes. He held his four arms clasped across his body, possibly imitating Dai-Men.

"This is Luke Skywalker, my new Padawan." the Master introduced.

His what? Luke wondered. "Hello."

"Brrrriiiiit-t-t-t-ah! Hi!"

"How do you do." said the voice from the comlink. She stood on Xhosa's other side, as tiny as he was huge. Barely four feet tall, slender, roughly mammalian, and covered with sleek silvery-cream fur. The tiny pink hands were webbed, their nails inlaid with colored metals and gem chips. She had big liquid green-gold eyes, a pink button of a nose and a wide pink lipped mouth fringed with silvery whiskers and wore a diaphanous silk sari secured with jeweled pins.

"Your Royal Highness," said Dai-Men as Leia, having recovered her dignity, joined them. "may I present my companions; Xhosa Xhittimenti of Koloptera and Sylkie, an Erawhon from the planet Lune." Xhosa managed a stiff inclination of his upper thorax while Sylkie sank to the deck in a graceful genuflexion.

"Welcome aboard."Leia said graciously, every inch the Princess. "Master Jinn tells me you wish to join the Rebellion."

Green-gold and glittering black compound eyes slid sideways to a slightly discomfited Jedi Master. "Naturally we'll be happy to lend a hand while we're here, your Highness." Sylkie said after a perceptible and highly charged pause.

"Thank you." Leia glanced curiously from companions to Master, guessing at a conflict of some sort. "I'm afraid quartering Xhosa may pose some problems." she continued.

"He can stay on our ship." Dai-Men suggested.

"Tuh-tuh-tuh-Trillllick! Always on the ship!" the insect complained.

"It's not our fault you're too big." Sylkie pointed out unsympathetically.

"I'm sure he could fit through the cargo doors." Luke offered. "The corridors shouldn't be a problem -" he gave the sizable arthropod a second look. "I think."

"The VIP suites have double doors I'm sure Xhosa could get through those." Leia put in helpfully.

"Thank you, your Highness, you're very kind." the Master accepted.

Sylkie and Xhosa turned reproachfully on Dai-Men the second they were left alone in the lounge of their new quarters. "Trying to get rid of us again!" she said furiously.

The Jedi Master knelt down, putting himself on eye level with his outraged little companion. "Listen, Sylkie, I admit I was wrong to try to leave you on Ariya. I had no right to make that kind of decision for you. This is different. Here with the Fleet you'll be able to make your own contribution to the Rebel cause," he smiled wryly, "and you certainly won't be safe!"

Huge crystal tears welled up in the green-gold eyes and spilled over to spangle the soft pale fur. Dai-Men wiped them away with a gentle finger. "That's not going to work, Sylkie, not this time."

"Git-git-Buuuurrrrit! What about you?" Xhosa wanted to know.

Dai-Men looked up at the looming insectoid. "I'll be staying a while, to train young Skywalker."

"And then?" Sylkie asked in a small voice. "And then I'll be leaving, alone." blue eyes embraced them both as the warm voice continued. "You two have been good company these last few years but my future lies along a different path from yours."

"You're going to get yourself killed!" Sylkie sobbed.

He stroked her sleek head comfortingly. "I promise I'll do everything I can to keep that from happening."


	2. To Be A Jedi

Luke found his first practice session with his new Padawan Master an eye opening experience. Vader had been a powerful but ponderous opponent. Dai-Men - though much the same size - was light and graceful as a dancer. And fast, incredibly fast. Luke estimated he'd received at least five mortal injuries in ten minutes sparring with lighsabres set to lowest possible power.

The Master disengaged, eyeing his panting, sweating padawan with knit brows. It didn't take Jedi sensibilities to see he was unimpressed, even alarmed by Luke's performance.

Leia certainly saw it. "Luke held his own against Vader." she snapped defensively from her place on a sofa between Sylkie and Threepio.

Luke shook his head. "I lost." he reminded her, looked ruefully at his new Master. "And Vader's a lot slower than you are."

That seemed to startle Dai-Men, his frown deepened: "He wasn't always. It must be the mechanical limitations of that cyborg body of his."

Luke glanced uneasily at his prosthetic right hand and the Master smiled reassuringly. "I don't think your hand will be a problem, Luke."

"Then what is?" Luke demanded, thoroughly discouraged.

"For one thing you're waiting for me to act before you react." Dai-Men answered. "Detach your time sense, see what I'm going to do before I do it."

"That's impossible!" his student blurted.

"Very little is impossible with the Force." The Master replied serenely. "And the Force is strong in you, Luke, as it was in your father."

"You knew my father?"

"Most of my life." Dai-Men smiled. "Obi-Wan had been my father's apprentice. He took an interest in me as a child so naturally I saw a lot of his Padawan. We learned about the Force together." His expression turned thoughtful. "Anakin came late to the training. Like you he had much to unlearn."

"How old was he?" Luke asked.

"Nine." said the Master.

"Nine!" his student echoed, stunned.

"Far to old according to the Codes." Dai-Men went on. "The Council made a special exception for him."

"If nine was to old when did Jedi start their training?" Luke demanded.

"One year was considered ideal." the Master replied calmly. "Though exceptions were occasionally made for children up to four years old."

Padawan and Princess stared at him speechless.

"The reason for starting so young was to prevent the very problem Luke's having now," Dai-Men explained. "he's been raised to accept certain limitations which he must now unlearn."

"That's what Yoda kept saying." Luke agreed gloomily.

The Master re-ignited his lightsabre. "Let's try again." They reengaged, Dai-Men deliberately slowing to half his previous speed. But that was still much too fast for

his student.

"Stop trying so hard." he counseled. "Let go, don't try to control the Force let it control you."

"I can't!" Luke panted.

"Of course you can, I've seen you do it when you fly. Don't think, react!"

Luke bit his lip struggling for the calm openness he felt in a cockpit.

"Your father was a great pilot," Dai-Men continued conversationally, "even at nine. He was a pod-racer you know."

"He was?" Luke asked eagerly, dodging the Master's blade barely in time. "I wanted to try it but Uncle Owen said no human could possibly be fast enough."

"Only a Jedi or potential Jedi." Dai-Men replied as Luke continued to parry his attacks. "In fact that's how Anakin first met your mother, and Obi-Wan, and my father. Your mother's planet had been invaded by the Neimoidian Trade Federation -"

"Mother's planet?" Luke interrupted, counter-attacking, "I thought she was from Tatooine?"

"Anakin was from Tatooine," the Master corrected, giving ground but blocking every blow. "Amidala was Queen of Naboo."

"Queen! My mother was a queen?" Luke gasped barely countering a lighting thrust.

"Elected to the throne at the age of fourteen, just a few months before the invasion." Dai-Men replied. "Father's warning came too late but he was able to free your mother and she decided to go to Coruscant and make a personal appeal to the Senate. Unfortunately their ship was damaged running the blockade and they had to land on Tatooine for repairs."

"And that's when she met father?" Luke asked. Absorbed in the story he was barely conscious of his lightsabre as it countered his Master's blade.

"In the shop of the dealer they went to for replacement parts." Dai-Men agreed. "But the only money they had was Republic credits -"

"No dealer on Tatooine would accept those!" Luke interrupted. Disengaging he circled the Master, looking for an opening.

Dai-Men pivoted smoothly, en-gard, and grinned. "Exactly. A big pod race was coming up and your father offered to drive for them. The prize money was enough to cover the parts they needed.

Luke grinned back as their blades crossed and re-crossed, "I guess he won."

"Of course. The youngest being ever to win the Boonta. My father sensed the Force in him and took Anakin with them to Coruscant to be trained as a Jedi."

"Even though he was so old?" Luke flipped clear over the Master and tried to surprise him from behind.

Dai-Men spun and parried with effortless skill. "I understand there was some trouble with the Council over that but they eventually saw reason."

"What about Mother's planet?" Luke asked, doggedly pressing his attack. "Did the Senate help?"

"Not really," the Master replied, allowing himself to be forced back but countering every blow. "Amidala didn't wait for them to act. She returned to Naboo and formed an alliance with the Gungans, a nonhuman species who shared the planet, then led her own counter-attack capturing the Federation Viceroy."

"Good for her!" Luke exclaimed, lunging.

Dai-Men side-stepped, knocking Luke's blade out of line, and smiled reminiscently. "Padme Amidala was an extrordinary woman, beautiful, brave." he shook his head half-humorously. "I had a terrible crush on her when I was about your age."

Luke recovered, successfully blocking his Master's riposte. "Uncle Owen never even told me her name."

"That'll be enough for today I think." Dai-Men disengaged, extinguishing his sabre.

"Huh?" Luke abruptly snapped back to full consciousness and realized he was holding his own weapon at ready, his arms quivering with exhaustion.

The Master smiled and spread his hands. "You see, you can do it."

Luke looked at Leia. She stared back round eyed from the edge of the couch. "That was - incredible!"

"I engaged your conscious mind," Dai-Men explained, "leaving the Force free to work through you."

Luke stared at the hands gripping his lightsabre as if they belonged to somebody else.

Dai-Men had also been enlightened by the practice session. The boy was alarmingly slow and had a limited repertoire of moves. Somebody, presumably Obi-Wan, had taught him the basics but no more. 'No time' he reflected, folding his arms as he gazed out the port into a whirlpool of stars. 'and a Force apparition can't spar.'

Frankly Dai-Men was amazed Luke had lasted as long as he had against Vader. He frowned, but apparently Anakin wasn't the swordsman he'd once been either. The two of them had been evenly matched in the old days. The Master knew he'd improved over the years, and had assumed the same would be true of his old sparring partner. Evidently he'd underestimated the limitations imposed by that cyborg body. Heavy, mechanical, difficult to influence with the Force.

'Poor Ani.'

He pulled his mind back to his new Padawan. Physical skill wasn't everything of course, the Force counted for much more. Unfortunately Luke had problems there as well. He wasn't comfortable with the sabre and found it difficult to surrender control.

Suddenly Yoda's words made sense; above all Luke needed the faith to trust in the Force. A lesson Dai-Men had learned thoroughly in a hard school. But transmitting that faith to his Padawan would mean touching on some questionable ground. He sighed, troubled. He didn't want to confuse Luke with conflicting philosophies - yet Yoda knew their difference quite as well as he did. The old Master would have been within his rights to insist Dai-Men limit himself to the technicalities of sabre-play but instead he had asked - no demanded - more.

The Master unfolded his arms, decision made. He would teach Luke exactly as he'd taught his other Padawans, and let the boy himself decide the path that was right for him.

Leia walked a somewhat depressed Luke back to his quarters. "You had him on the defensive." she offered encouragingly.

"Because he let me," he replied ruefully, "he wasn't going all out, Leia, even in that first bout." looked down at the scorch marks on his shirt. "He'd cut me to ribbons in a real fight."

"Well he is a Master after all, you'll learn, Luke."

"I'll have to learn fast," he said quietly. "time's running out."

"Why do you say that?"

Luke turned to look into frightened brown eyes. "Because it's true, I feel it....and so do you."

Leia bit her lip. "The Alliance can't survive another defeat." she admitted, "The next battle will be the last, one way or another."

He put an arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder seeking what comfort he could give.

"Yoda and Ben kept telling me to follow my feelings but when I did they said I was wrong." Luke complained, explaining to his new Master why he had left Yoda and couldn't go back just yet.

"Was it your feelings you were following or your fears?" Dai-Men asked softly.

Luke's shoulders slumped. "Fears I guess, I sure wasn't much help to Han and Leia."

"The future is always in motion." the Master said, just as Yoda had, and continued. "It's dangerous to base your choices on might bes."

"Then what should I base them on?"

"Listen to your feelings and trust in the Force." Dai-Men replied, "That is the first lesson of a Jedi and the last."

"But how do you tell feelings that come from the Force from your own?"

His Master grinned. "That's what all the lessons in between are supposed to teach you." Then he continued seriously. "Your ultimate aim is to become one with the Force, to shed personal fears and desires and seek only to know the will of the Force and to do it."

"That - sounds hard." Luke said inadequately. It sounded damn near impossible!

"It is." Dai-Men smiled. "I've been working at it for forty-six years and I'm not there yet."

"Great. I don't have forty-six years."

"I know. But you have time enough to make a start. To commit yourself to the path."

"I've done that!" Luke protested.

"Have you?" The Master's tone was gentle but not his words. "Do you truly understand what it means to be a Jedi? It's a hard life, Luke, the Force gives much but in return it demands everything: Your whole heart, your whole mind, your very soul, lifelong and beyond."

Dai-Men's blue eyes held Luke's like a vise and he realized the Master was right. Up to this moment he hadn't seriously considered what it meant to become a Jedi. He'd thought of it in terms of skills to be mastered, of the Force as a weapon to use against Vader and his Emperor. But it was more than that.

He'd have to let it into himself, let it change him. To be a Jedi meant loosing the self he was now and becoming somebody new. Somebody wise and powerful like Dai-Men or Ben.

Time slid out of focus as he looked down a tunnel of years at a phantom of the Luke Skywalker he might become: Brown robed and gray haired, face lined with sadness and strength. Wielding a lightsabre with sure skill. Counseling, teaching, following the Force wherever it led. Could he really become that man? Did he want to? Did he have a choice?

He closed his eyes squeezing back tears, regrets, fears. Found himself thinking, 'Someday I'll tell my own students about this moment.' and for an instant he was that older Luke looking back, remembering the decision that changed his life.

Then the vision faded and he was an uncertain Padawan again looking at his Master with grief, fear and resolution. "I want to be a Jedi." he said quietly.

"Then let us begin."

"Follow your feelings -"

"And trust in the Force." Luke finished for his Master, allowing a hint of impatience to leak into his voice. They had been working together for some weeks now and familiarity had taken the edge off his awe.

Dai-Men arched an amused eyebrow as he extinguished his sabre. "Am I repeating myself?"

His student had the grace to look abashed. "You do say it a lot." he half apologized.

"No doubt I do. It's something my father once said to me." he didn't add it was the last thing his father had ever said to him as a living man. Turning away from Luke Dai-Men caught a glimpse of his own reflection in a port. It could almost have been his father as he'd last seen him nearly forty years ago.

The day after your seventh birthday was a big day for any Jedi. It marked the beginning of formal training in one of the Acolyte schools. But like all Jedi passages it went unmarked by any ritual, your parents or guardian simply walked you to your new quarters and sent you in to face your new Acolyte master and classmates alone.

Only his father had been with him on that momentous walk. Mom had said her good-byes the day before and said she saw no reason to repeat them. At the time they'd taken it for one of her characteristic confusions but later Dai-Men wondered if she'd done it on purpose, to give him and his father those moments alone together, knowing they'd be the last. He'd never asked her, and he never would. But Dad at least must have known his time was running out and that he wouldn't live to see his son as a Jedi.

Dai-Men vividly remembered that walk; the long white corridors of the schools level; the silent, powerful presence of his father beside him and the feel of that big warm hand, palm callused by decades of sabre practice, holding his own. He'd been excited but also scared, and close to tears at the thought of leaving his parents' cell. He'd realized he was taking his first steps out into the world and away from their protection.

Finally they reached the momentous door, no different to look at than any of the others. When his father knelt down to face him the tears finally overflowed.

"I cried too." Dad said, in his warm, deep, tender voice, gently wiping the tears away with a finger. "Your mother and I will always be with you, Dai-Men, wherever we are and wherever you go."

All he'd had been able to manage by way of answer was a loud sniff as he struggled to blink back the tears.

Qui-Gon cupped his son's face with the hand that wasn't caught fast in Dai-Men's small, icy grip. "Let the past go." he counseled softly. "Concentrate on the moment. And be mindful of the Living Force."

He'd nodded convulsively. "I'll remember."

"It will be a hard life." Dad finished quietly, "but you will find out who you are." and for the first time the son realized his father had tears in his eyes too. "You will make me proud."

Dai-Men flung his arms around his father's neck and clung fiercely. Qui-Gon embraced firmly in return then disengaged himself to rise and knock on the door, one hand still resting on his son's shoulder. Then he looked down: "Follow your feelings, and trust in the Force." The door had opened and Dai-Men had gone in, never to see his father alive again.

The reflection in the port changed, folding his arms into the sleeves of his ample brown robe, smiling at his son and Dai-Men smiled back into gray-blue eyes much lighter than his own. Then Luke touched his arm and he was looking at his own reflection again.

"Master?" Dai-Men looked down at him.

"Truth can stand repetition, Luke. Follow your feelings and trust in the Force. It's just that simple, and that hard. Soon you'll understand.


	3. Where's Han?

Leia first realized her attitude towards Luke had changed drastically over the past months when she found herself at the door of Master Jinn's quarters, a message flimsy clutched in her hand. Once she would have kept her feelings from Luke, not wanting to burden him, now she found herself turning to him instinctively for support and advice.

She signalled and the door slid open. Master and student turned to look at her un-startled but concerned. "What's wrong, Leia?" Luke asked gently.

She sucked in a deep breath, just holding back tears. "A message from Lando on Tatooine. Still no sign of Boba Fett. As far as Lando can tell he hasn't even contacted Jabba." her voice rose, "It's been four months, Luke! Where is he? what's he done with Han?"

Luke took her in his arms and she melted against him, trying to draw on the strange new strength she sensed in him. "Han will be all right." he breathed into her hair. "I feel it."

Why did that make her feel so much better? When had she started believing so implicitly in Luke's intuition?

"Hibernation isn't pleasant," Master Jinn put in quietly, "but nobody can hurt him as long as he's sealed in that carbonite block." That was true. Han wouldn't be in real danger until Jabba thawed him out. "I'm surprised Fett hasn't at least communicated with Jabba," Dai-Men mused, "as a rule bounty hunters put in their claim as quickly as possible, even when delivery is going to be delayed for one reason or other."

"Sounds like you've had personal experience with them." Luke probed, ever curious about his Master's past.

"Too much," was the wry answer. "all Jedi have a price on their heads." Leia looked at Master Jinn over Luke's shoulder and wondered how he could be so serene after half a lifetime as a hunted fugitive. "Imperial Intelligence likes to keep tract of bounty hunters," he continued, "perhaps we should consult them."

"Sure," Leia snorted, "just open up a channel and ask!"

"No, I don't think that would work." the Master replied, grave tone belied by the twinkle in his eye. "The II command center for the Outer Rim territories is on Eevo 2. I suggest Luke and I go and have a look at their records."

Leia frowned at him then looked up at Luke. "Is he serious?"

"He's always serious." was the dry answer.

"It would be a good exercise for Luke." Dai-Men said calmly, "and we might learn something useful."

She pushed herself away from Luke to confront his Master head on. "You two are going to just walk into II headquarters and ask to see what they've got on Boba Fett?"

"I wasn't planning to ask but that is the general idea." Dai-Men answered mildly.

"You're crazy." Leia said with conviction.

Far from being offended the Master almost laughed. "You're not the first to say so."

To the Princess' astonishment General Madine, head of the Alliance's covert operations, accepted the idea at once. "You're crazy too!" she blurted.

Madine smiled thinly. "I've had first hand experience of what a Jedi can do, your Highness." he glanced at Dai-Men. "Almagest, sixteen years ago. Was that you?"

The Master shook his head, smiling. "A friend."

"What did he do?" Leia wanted to know, glancing warily from one man to the other.

"She." Dai-Men corrected.

"She had an entire Imperial base running around in circles and blasting shadows is what she did." Madine remembered. "We lost maybe a third of our men and machines to friendly fire and morale was shot to hell."

"Fear can be a powerful ally." The Master said quietly, then reassuringly to Leia. "I don't intend to be that obvious, your Highness. Force willing they'll never know we were there."

She turned to Luke as to her last bastion of sanity but he was no help. "We'll be fine." he told her gently, "and we'll find out where Han is."

Leia bit a suddenly trembling lip. "I don't want to lose you too, Luke."

He put a comforting arm around her and squeezed. "You won't, that's a promise."

"From both of us." Dai-Men said gently, "I will bring him back, Princess, you have my word."

The breath sighed out of her. "I'll hold you to that Master Jinn."

The Master's ship was a pre-Clone Wars spice freighter, basically a giant hold with a tiny control section tacked onto the bow. As little space as possible had been 'wasted' on the crew; the cramped main cabin had minute Captain's quarters and an only slightly larger bunkroom opening off it, and the cockpit was equally compact. Luke noticed the two rear seats for the com and scanner stations had been removed and all the hatches enlarged for Xhosa's benefit with one of the holds nearest the control deck fitted up as his quarters. But nothing could be done about ceilings so low Dai-Men had to stoop and Xhosa must have to crawl.

"Cozy." Luke remarked sliding into the co-pilot's seat. His Master laughed. "All the 'Jinx' had to recommend her was her price back when we bought her but I've become quite attached to her over the years."

"The Jinx?" Luke echoed.

Dai-Men nodded. "Named by my second Padawan Master, he used to say she was just a conglomeration of malfunctions waiting to happen."

Luke grinned. "I never thought I'd see a ship that looked worse than the Falcon. How'd you keep her going?"

"The Force has been with us, and Jedi are good technicians." Dai-Men finished the pre-flight check and smiled at his protege. "We have a certain flair for jury-rigs and emergency improvisations."

"I'm a pretty good tinkerer myself," Luke admitted, "got plenty of practice working on the old clunkers at our farm."

The Master nodded. "As I said it's a Jedi talent, along with piloting. Your father excelled at both."

Mention of his father silenced Luke for the remainder of the launch. Dai-Men had proved far more forthcoming than either of his previous Teachers and told him quite a lot about his parents, the Jedi Order and the Purge. But Luke had never asked him about Vader's claim to be his father. If Dai-Men knew he would tell him, Luke had no doubt of that, but would he know? By his own account he'd been far from the center of things when the Emperor struck, the major reason he was still alive. He had already admitted ignorance of Amidala's fate was it likely he'd know Anakin's? Besides: 'Vader was lying, he had to be lying...Ben wouldn't lie to me, he couldn't...' Luke firmly pushed away the memory of Ben's persistent evasiveness on the subject of his father and tried to forget the moment he'd touched Darth Vader's soul and found a pinpoint of light buried in the darkness.

When he finally did speak, after they'd made the jump to hyperspace and settled in for the wait till breakout, it was to ask about Dai-Men's past not his own. "Second Master?"

"Like you I lost my first Teacher to Darth Vader." the Master replied calmly.

Luke blinked. "But- I thought you said the two of you were out in the Rim Territories when the purge started?"

"We were." Dai-Men turned his chair to face Luke's. "But we didn't stay there. Kaljeyru had been the chief sword master of the Jedi for some four hundred years. He'd resigned his Council seat and effectively retired decades before but he was too powerful for the Emperor to overlook. As for me," he shrugged, "I was only a Padawan but my father had been a strong Jedi and a great swordsman and my mother is a notable seer. The Emperor deemed it prudent to eliminate me as well."

Luke reflected on what he'd seen of his Master's powers and decided the Emperor had shown good judgment there.

"When you're being hunted, Luke, sometimes it's better to confront your pursuers rather than hide from them." Dai-Men continued, "And there was something that needed doing. The Council and those Jedi actually on Coruscant had been the first to die but we learned many of the Temple children were still alive, held captive by the Emperor to be trained as his servants - we had to get them back. My Master called together what Jedi he could reach, other survivors and a few renegades -"

"Renegades?" Luke interrupted, "you mean Dark Siders?"

"No!" The Master said emphatically. "There were other reasons to break with the Council, honorable reasons." he sighed, "They could be very rigid, very arbitrary. My own father defied the them more than once, and so did yours. My second Master, Hamilcar, was one of the renegades. His particular sticking point was Jedi detachment," Dai-Men smiled at memories, "Ham believed in getting involved.

"There were less than fifty of us, renegades, padawans and all." he continued quietly, "Over half died, but we got the children back. Kaljeyru deliberately sacrificed himself to cover our retreat."

"Like Ben." Luke said softly.

"Exactly like." the Master agreed. "He'd planned it that way from the beginning and arranged for Hamilcar to take charge of me. Ham had left the Order years before, there was a good chance he wasn't on the Emperor's list. And he'd been my father's first Apprentice, Kaljeyru knew he'd take me for Father's sake."

"What did you do then?"

"Got back to the Outer Rim territories, saw the children settled, and scattered. Master Hamilcar and I bought the Jinx and we went back to doing what Jedi do."

"Which is?"

"Wander, meddle," Dai-Men smiled, "poke into things best left alone. It's a hard life, Luke, but it's rarely dull!"

"Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things." Luke quoted in a very bad Yoda voice.

His Master laughed. "Perhaps not but he'll get them whether he wants them or not so he might as well enjoy it!" he shook his head, still smiling. "The trouble with Master Yoda is he seems set on taking all the fun out of being a Jedi."

Luke looked at him uncertainly, disturbed by criticism of Yoda however affectionate, and puzzled by the seeming contradiction. "But - you said it was a hard life?"

"So it is." was the serene answer. "But it is not without its compensations. There is a great satisfaction in service to your fellow beings and great joy in closeness to the Force." Dai-Men smiled reassuringly at his Padawan. "Becoming a Jedi does not mean being miserable for the rest of your life, or turning into an emotionless automaton," he sighed, "which I sometimes feel is Yoda's ideal."

"Now I'm really confused." Luke said.

The Master heaved another sigh, this one rueful. "Of course you are. I've been a grave disappointment to Yoda, Luke, like my father was before me. We've both insisted on following our feelings even against his teachings." Dai-Men spread his hands, "I am not Yoda's idea of what a Jedi should be. The only reason I'm your Padawan Master is because there's literally nobody else."

"You're saying Master Yoda's wrong?" Luke blurted.

"In my opinion, about some things." the Master replied, smiled, "of course I could be the one who's wrong. You'll have to decide."

"Me!" Luke echoed in alarm.

"Yes you! A Master is just a guide on the Path, Luke, it is you who must walk it. Remember Yoda's teachings, listen to mine, and choose what feels right to you."

Terrific, Luke reflected as he followed his Master through the streets of Eevo City. As if the saber work wasn't hard enough now he was expected to choose between his two Masters. Worse, if Dai-Men wasn't the ideal Jedi than what was?

"Now is not the time for introspection." the Master scolded mildly. "Focus on the moment, Luke, be aware of the Living Force."

"Yes, Master."

A gentle sigh. "And remember not to call me Master."

"Sorry." Luke looked around, trying to focus on the moment. The street was full of arrogant Imperial uniforms, the few civilians veering nervously out of their way. But the Imps in turn steered clear of Dai-Men.

Luke glanced up at his Master. He was dressed as a free spacer but without the cocky aggressiveness characteristic of the breed, instead he radiated a calm confidence that intimidated without effort or intent. Luke wondered now how he could ever have taken him for anything but a Jedi.

"There it is." the Master murmured and nodded ahead.

Imperial Intelligence Headquarters was a monolithic tower of black glass and plascrete dominating the street. The other buildings seemed to crouch cowed around its feet, as if desperately hoping to go unnoticed. Which was pretty much how Luke felt. He swallowed and hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt.

"Most people get nervous around Imperial Intelligence," Dai-Men said in a calm undertone. "confidence would be much more suspicious."

"How do you do that?" Luke muttered back, "I didn't think Jedi were telepathic!"

The Master smiled. "We're not. I'm reading your face not your mind, young Padawan."

"Don't call me Padawan." Luke reminded. The smile lines around the Master's eyes deepened then disappeared as the entrance yawed before them, flanked by six black uniformed guards. Luke gulped as their weapons came down to cover him and Dai-Men.

An officer stepped forward to stand eye to throat with the tall Master. Only Luke caught the subtle hand gesture as Dai-Men brought Jedi powers into play. "We're expected." he said.

"Right." the officer agreed, "These two are expected." weapons snapped back up, to Luke's intense relief. "Informants report to office twelve."

"Thanks." Dai-Men answered casually and led the way inside. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, threading his way confidently through the maze of corridors.

"You've been here before." Luke guessed.

"Once or twice." the Master admitted. He stopped at last at a sealed door and slipped a circuit wafer from his belt pouch into the security lock.

"What's that?" Luke whispered, glancing uneasily up and down the empty hallway.

"A universal re-programmer disk." Dai-Men replied in his normal voice, seeming quite at his ease despite being in the heart of enemy territory. "It'll fool the lock computer into believing we've entered the authorization code." he flashed a quick smile. "A gift from a kind but quite dishonest friend."

The door opened with a soft click and the Master went directly to the main console, tapping away at the controls with practiced skill. Luke watched the door like it was a Wampa snow beast getting ready to charge. His heart thudding uncomfortably fast, he hadn't been this nervous on the Death Star. Of course then he'd just been a crazy kid, now he was a Rebel Officer and Jedi Padawan, he knew too much to ever be so thoughtlessly reckless again.

The door opened and a black suited technician entered, freezing at the sight of them. Heart in his throat Luke stepped towards the woman, reaching out with the Force to sooth the alarm rattling her mind. "Hi there." Her eyes tracked to him. "You know us, we work here."

"You work here." she repeated and smiled. "Sorry to interrupt, I forgot my data pad."

"This it?" the Master pointed to a tablet on a nearby console. "Yeah, thanks." She picked it up. "Bye." she said and walked out.

Luke stared after her, jaw sagging floorward.

Nice work." said the Master.

"I can't believe I did that!" Luke stammered.

"Well I didn't." Dai-Men shut down the computers and pouched a data cube. "Shall we go?"

They had almost reached the outer lobby and Luke was just beginning to breath easier in anticipation when they were forced into a sub-hallway by a large convoy of stormtroopers guarding a gaggle of civilians: Men, women, even children, some crying softly, others angry, most simply dazed as if unable to believe what was happening to them.

"Hostages." Dai-Men said grimly as the crowd disappeared around a bend in the corridor.

"We've got to do something!" Luke gasped.

The Master didn't waste time agreeing. "This way."

No doubt about it, Dai-Men really knew this place. He led Luke quickly through a labyrinth of twisty sub-corridors the last opening opposite a set of double doors guarded by a quartet of stormtroopers.

"I was afraid of that," the Master said softly, "the execution yard." he drew his lightsabre.

Luke pulled out his too. "You've got a plan?"

Dai-Men gave him the ghost of a smile. "We don't have time for a plan." he said and strode out of cover towards the guards.

"Huh?" Luke blinked at the empty air then scrambled after him.

The four troopers never had a chance to even point their weapons. Dai-Men gestured briefly right and left and they fell back, choking and clutching at their throats. Then the Master hit the opening mechanism, waved Luke inside and followed, triggering both the regular and blast doors closed behind them.

The yard was open to the sky with viewing galleries running around the top of sheer basaltic walls. The huddled mass of civilians stared at the two Jedi in bewilderment, parting automatically for Dai-Men as he crossed to a set of gates opposite the inner doors. His lightsabre flashed as he sheered through the control panel and the gates slid open onto a windowless alley.

The Master turned to the nearest hostages, a middle aged man clutching a teenaged girl and a small boy to him. "Go left." he instructed crisply, "you'll come out in the back streets of the Industrial sector." The man just stared. "Go!"

Possibly the Master put some Force into the command. Anyway it got them moving. The blast doors began to glow primrose. "Master," Luke called, "they're burning through!"

Dai-Men strode back to his side as the yard continued to empty. The last of the hostages disappeared out the gates some ten seconds before the doors blew in with a hail of blaster fire. The Master didn't just deflect the bolts, he bounced them right back into the Imperials' teeth then charged through the doors into their midst. A stunned Luke recovered himself and followed just in time to see a Jedi sword master in his prime almost casually dispose of a score of foes in mere minutes.

Dai-Men was a whirlwind, wielding his lightsabre with an artistry Luke knew he'd never equal or even approach. The green blade flickered almost too fast for the eye to see, deflecting blaster fire and sheering through gunstocks and armor. Then the stormtroopers were all down and the Master seized his student's arm pushing Luke before him into the sub-hallway. "Run!"

Force running, and leaping, were two things Luke had thoroughly mastered with Yoda so he had no difficulty at all keeping up as they zig-zagged through increasingly cramped access corridors before finally skidding to a halt on a sort of balcony overlooking a deep shaft.

Luke looked at the pulsing power conduits, thick as tree trunks, running up the walls and shook his head. "Reactor core. Why do I always end up in the reactor core?"

His Master just smiled and pointed to a catwalk some twenty feet above. "Up."

They jumped a dozen levels upward, from catwalk to catwalk then through a hatch into yet another sub-hallway leading to a wide curving corridor, deeply carpeted and silent though awash with crimson light from flashing wall alarms.

"Looks like a full alert." Luke observed.

"I'd be insulted by anything less." Dai-Men replied, almost lightly, re-igniting his sabre and slicing through the nearest door into a luxuriously furnished office. He crossed to the wide picture window and began cutting a hole in the clear-steel.

Luke followed shaking his head. "And Yoda called me reckless!"

His Master flashed a smile over his shoulder. "Remind me to tell you some of the things my father and Obi-Wan got up to in their time."

Escape was a simple matter of dropping onto a neighboring rooftop then crossing several others before descending to street level by way of a back stair and through a busy cantina kitchen. Dai-Men seemed to know the back alleys of Eevo City as thoroughly as the labyrinthine corridors of II HQ. He led Luke on a circuitous route back to the obscure landing field where they'd left the Jinx.

"Will the hostages be all right?" Luke worried as they prepared for take off.

"I think so," Dai-Men replied, "Imperial security will be much more interested in tracing the two Jedi who rescued them."

Realization hit Luke and he looked at his Master in alarm. "You've given yourself away! The Emperor will know you're alive!"

Dai-Men glanced at him in mild surprise. "He's known that for seventeen years.


	4. Had Abbadon

"He's where?" General Madine frowned across the conference table at the Jedi Master and his Apprentice.

"Had Abbadon." Dai-Men repeated patiently.

Leia, next to Madine, shook her head in confusion. "Never heard of it."

"I'm not surprised," the Master answered. "an interesting place in its way but not well known. Had Abbadon was once a city planet, much like Coruscant, but about five thousand years ago it was leveled by some unknown enemy and most of its atmosphere blown away. The modern population is transitory; archaeologists, salvers and treasure hunters for the most part with a small Imperial force trying to maintain some kind of order."

"Sounds like you've been there." Luke observed.

"I have." his Master replied, "Years ago during the Wars."

Luke blinked. "You fought in the Clone Wars?"

Dai-Men gave him a dryly amused look. "I'm only a year or two younger than your father." then continued to Madine and Leia: "The Mandalore were preparing Had Abbadon as a redoubt for their final stand but Obi-Wan cornered the last of them on Kettlebrai so they never used it."

"But why would Fett go there instead of Tatooine?" the Princess demanded.

"That's what worries me." the Master admitted. "According to the II data a number of former Mandalore have gathered on Had Abaddon."

"You mean Fett's a Mandalorian Warrior?" Luke wanted to know.

Dai-men nodded. "Or trained by one, it comes to the same thing."

"But the Mandalorians were destroyed on Kettlebrai!" Madine protested.

"And the last of the Jedi died at Condawn." The Master smiled wryly. "There are always survivors, General. My guess is they've spent the last twenty-odd years training up a new generation of warriors. Now they feel strong enough to declare themselves."

"And if Had Abaddon was prepared as a redoubt they'd have weapons and equipment stored there." Luke deduced.

"Exactly." Dai-Men agreed.

"What about Han?" Leia pleaded.

"Presumably still safe in hibernation in Fett's cargo hold." the Master reassured her.

"We've got to do something about the Mandalorians." Luke blurted, "Stop them."

"I agree." Dai-Men glanced at Madine. "The Emperor isn't interested, he's got more immediate worries."

The General looked troubled. "The Alliance can't risk going up against Mandalore, we just can't afford the losses."

"I understand." the Master responded, cutting off Luke's protest. "The Jedi will handle it."

"You and Luke?" the Princess gasped, appalled.

"And a few others." he smiled.

Luke stared at his Master. Others? How many Jedi were there anyway?

"Eight!" Luke echoed Dai-Men's casual answer incredulously after they'd exchanged the debriefing room for Leia's quarters.

"That I know of, including you and me." the Master said tranquilly.

"Against how many Mandalorians?" Leia wanted to know.

"Not many, fifteen or twenty at most I'd say."

"That's two to one odds." Luke pointed out.

"Probably worse." Dai-Men conceded, "I doubt all the others will make it to Had Abaddon."

"Great." his Padawan sighed. "Master, I've heard about the Mandalorians, even Jedi had trouble taking them."

"I remember." the Master smiled, reminding Luke he'd actually fought them. The boy flushed in

embarrassment."I'm not saying it will be easy." Dai-Men continued, "but don't discount the Force, Luke, It is a powerful ally. Trust it, there will be a way."

"Yes Master." his protege sighed dutifully. Trusting the Force that much was going to take some doing.

"What about Han?" Leia demanded, proving there was nothing wrong with her focus, "If he's on Had Abbadon -"

"Good point, your Highness," Dai-Men agreed. "I suggest you send word to Calrissian, he and Chewbacca can meet us there." he smiled faintly, "Our battle with the Mandalore should be all the cover they need to retrieve Captain Solo."

"Right. We'll rescue Han, Lando, Chewy and I." The Princess declared then glared regally at the two Jedi, daring them to argue.

Master and Apprentice exchanged a look and remained prudently silent.

Which left Dai-Men with one other problem; telling Sylkie and Xhosa, but especially Sylkie, he was going off again without them.

"Chuuuuur-click! Why can't we - tliiiiiiick! – go too?" Xhosa wanted to know.

"Yeah," Sylkie agreed, green eyes glinting suspicion, "why not?"

"Because for all your talents neither of you can be called a fighter." the Master replied.

A snort from Sylkie. "Xhosa could always fall on the enemy."

"Trrriiiiiillllck! Sylkie, rrrriiiiitt-rrrrriiiiiit, talk them to death." The athropod retorted and looked pleased with himself.

Dai-Men laughed.

"Fighting who?" Sylkie demanded.

"Bounty hunters, mercenaries." the Master replied easily. His small companion relaxed slightly, she'd seen him roll up such by the dozens. "They're holding one of the Rebel leaders, a Captain Solo, the Princess asked us to help get him back."

"Just you and Luke?" Sylkie pressed.

Dai-Men shook his head. "Her Highness will be coming with us, and other Rebel operatives meet us there."

The Erewhon nodded, satisfied. A Rebel operation was quite different from Dai-Men running off on his own. Besides it couldn't be too dangerous if they were taking the Princess.

The Master hid a smile and a twinge of guilt. Not a word of lie, but not the whole truth either. Sylkie was going to kill him when she found out, and she would, but not until it was too late.

Lando sat in the crowded, rundown cantina reflecting that Had Abbadon actually made Tatooine look good. Take an un-breathable, paper thin atmosphere, blazing hot days and bitterly cold nights. Throw in a landscape of crumbling gray ruins crawling with trigger happy treasure hunters and a domed spaceport under strict Imperial control and you got yourself a real winner of a planet. He shrugged and picked up his glass, but at least a man could get a decent drink.

The message from Skywalker had been brief and to the point; Boba Fett, and presumably Han, were on Had Abbadon. No explanation of why Fett would take a detour to this rock with a fat bounty waiting for him on Tatooine. Presumably Luke would fill in those little details after he arrived.

"Calrissian."

Lando jerked around, one hand going instinctively to his blaster then broke into a grin of startled recognition. "Jayce? Jayce Darklighter! don't tell me they got pod-racing on this rock?"

His friend slipped into the seat opposite. "Not that I know of. Anyway I don't race anymore."

"Shame." Lando regretted, "I made a fortune off of you."

Jayce smiled. "Word got around, my odds were shortening."

True, but they'd really cleaned up those first few races. Nobody had believed a human could even finish the course much less win. In fact Jayce was the only human pod-racer Lando had ever heard of, though Darklighter himself claimed there'd been one other - some kid on the Outer Rim.

"So what brings you to beautiful Had Abbadon?" Lando wondered, "Or shouldn't I ask?"

Darklighter smiled that thin secretive smile of his. "Same thing as you actually."

Lando blinked. "You know Skywalker?"

Jayce shook his head fractionally. "Never met him."

Lando suddenly remembered a few other things about his old friend. "Please tell me you're not after Fett." he begged. Darklighter had a bad habit of going after ugly types for no apparent reason. It was going to get him killed someday. Actually it was kind of surprising it hadn't already.

That enigmatic smile was scarcely reassuring. "Not exactly." his eyes slid to the Cantina entrance. "Here they are."

Lando turned. Chewy was in the lead with the Skywalker kid right behind him - and Princess Leia Organa. Lando shook his head resignedly, he should have expected that. And bringing up the rear was a very tall human in a long brown robe much like the one Jayce was wearing.

"Friend of yours?" the gambler asked, nodding towards the last.

"Sort of."

Lando sighed. It'd always been tough getting a straight answer out of Darklighter. Oh well, he usually knew what he was doing. Lando just hoped this wasn't one of the rare exceptions and that whatever Jayce had in mind wouldn't conflict with Luke's plans, whatever they were. Not that Skywalker would stand a chance in a head to head. Jayce Darklighter was one of the hardest customers Lando had ever met in a lifetime of rough company.

Lando wasn't alone Luke noted. His companion was a tall, supple redhead with the keen, angular face of a bird of prey - and wearing a long dark brown robe! Another Jedi? Luke shot a quick glance back Dai-Men and saw his Master was smiling, mostly with his eyes. Yup, had to be.

They reached the table and names were exchanged. "Jayce Darklighter? the pod racer?" Luke demanded, reverting briefly to thrilled racing fan.

The other man grimaced. "Six races and I'm labeled for life!"

"I warned you." the Master said, amused.

'Only a Jedi or potential Jedi' Dai-Men had said, so Darklighter was one of them! But he looked to be about Han's age, too young to have been trained before the purge.

"Jayce was my first Apprentice." the Master added casually, following Luke's thought processes with his usual uncanny accuracy.

"Apprentice what?" Lando wanted to know.

"Long story." Leia answered briefly before getting to the really important question. "What about Han?"

Lando had to shake his head. "I'm sorry, Princess, I haven't been able to find a trace of Slave 1. Are you sure Fett's here?"

"He's here." that was Jayce. "According to traffic control records he put down at a private field on the other side of the planet."

The Master nodded as if he'd expected that.

Lando frowned. "How'd you get at those? Imp bureaucrats are tighter than a -" he remembered the Princess's presence just in time - "miser's fist."

Jayce smiled that damned smile again. "There are ways." he said, then seeing Lando's irritation added soothingly: "I've been here a day or so longer than you. I've had time to make a few contacts."

"Look, would somebody just tell me what the hell's going on?" the gambler demanded.

"Not here." Luke responded with a quick glance around the crowded cantina.

"On the Falcon then." Lando persisted.

Luke looked up at his Master. "You were expecting others?"

"They'll find us." Dai-Men replied confidently.

"The Force will guide them." Jayce murmured with a sardonic sidelong glance at the Master, who merely smiled in reply.

Luke was surprised to feel a definite twinge on jealousy.

They were about to follow Lando, Chewy and Leia into the Falcon when the two Jedi suddenly pivoted in unison about eighty degrees looking towards the hanger entrance. Luke turned too, searching his feelings. He didn't sense anything - or did he?

The door opened admitting two forms swathed in long hooded brown robes. One very tall, nearly Dai-Men's height, the other shorter than Luke. They moved briskly across the bay floor to join the group at the foot of the boarding ramp. The taller of the pair reached up to put back his hood and Luke felt his jaw sag.

His first impression was of a broad toothy grin framed by masses of brown curls tumbling almost into a pair of wide lucent blue eyes flanking a formidable beaky nose. A clown's face at once sad and merry, and not at all what he'd ever expected a Jedi to look like.

"Luke Skywalker, Raj Naberrie." The Master introduced.

Two large warm hands enfolded Luke's. "So you're Queen Amidala's son? Delighted to meet you!" his voice was beautiful, rich and mellow with a Core World's accent.

"You knew my mother?" Luke stammered.

Another dazzling smile. "I was one of her subjects. A very great lady."

"Thank you." her son replied, still off balance.

The Master placed a steadying hand on his Padawan's shoulder. "And this is Mei-Qan Kenobi, Obi-Wan's granddaughter."

The second Jedi put back her hood revealing blond, blue beaded braids looped and coiled around an almost familiar face, delicate and dimpled but with Ben's fierce, fearless blue eyes.

"Chani?" Luke gaped in disbelief.

"Hello, Luke." she smiled, then said to Dai-Men: "We're old friends, Master, we grew up together."

"Yes, of course you did, I'd forgotten."

Lando wasn't sure what he'd expected but not this! "Jedi Knights, Mandalorian Warriors, sounds like the Clone Wars all over again!" No wonder Luke had waited till they were safe in the Falcon's main hold before spilling this can of worms.

"It could be if we don't stop them here." The so-called Jedi Master said seriously.

"We do have time for a plan don't we?" Jayce asked dryly.

For some reason Luke and the other three Jedi all grinned as if at some in joke.

"You expect me to go up against Mandalorians you better have a damn good plan!" Lando informed them emphatically.

"It'll be your job to rescue Han." Dai-Men returned, "I'm sure you and Chewbacca and her Highness will be more than equal to the challenge."

The Wookiee roared enthusiastic agreement flinging a shaggy arm around the Princess and hugging.

Leia grinned and hugged him back. "You bet we will, Chewy!"

Lando was more skeptical. "Sounds like you guys are gonna provide one hell of a diversion." he conceded. He glanced at Jayce. "I've seen Darklighter in action and I've heard about Jedi, but just five of you? Against who knows how many Mandalorians?" And one of the five a slip of a girl too. Jinn looked capable enough but Lando had his doubts about Naberrie and Luke too come to that.

Dai-Men spread his hands. "We must work with what we have. The Force is with us."

That was real reassuring. "Yeah, well no offense but I'd feel a lot better if we had something a little more tangible in the way of back up."

A strong blow in the solar plexus knocked him against the back of the seat, wind wooshing out of him.

Jayce smiled sardonically. "The Force can be pretty tangible."

"So I feel." Lando wheezed, trying to get his breath back. Suddenly a couple of odd incidents in their common past made a lot more sense. "Good trick." he admitted.

"We can't plan until we have some idea of what we're up against." Jinn said briskly. "Jayce?"

"I saw ten names I recognized on the arrivals list but that's probably not all there are."

"And my memories of the redoubt are a quarter of a century old." Dai-Men agreed. "A recce is definitely in order. Luke and Mei-Qan."

The former blinked. "Huh?"

"A man and a woman are inherently less suspicious than two men." Jinn explained. "You and Mei-Qan have the further advantages of youth and an innocent appearance."

The girl's dimples deepened in a smile that was anything but innocent.

"Or at least you do." the Jedi Master corrected himself dryly.

"What about me?" the Princess demanded. "I'm a woman and Luke and I are used to working together."

"But you're not a Jedi." Dai-Men raised a hand to stop her protest. "I know you've been trained as a Swan Sensana, Princess, and can take care of yourself," he grinned disarmingly, "but if you go, Chewbacca will want to go too and Wookiees just aren't built for stealth."

Chewy growled agreement, preening himself.

Leia conceded the argument with less than perfect grace.

"Don't worry." Mei-Qan assured her, "I'll look after Luke."

A snort from young Skywalker. "The way I remember it was usually the other way around." he added to Dai-Men, "she was nuts as a kid."

"She hasn't changed much," Jinn replied, "takes after her grandfather." and tilted a challenging eyebrow at the girl.

She smirked. "Your father was much worse."

"According to Obi-Wan, not exactly a disinterested witness." Dai-Men retorted.

"From what I've seen all Jedi are crazy!" Leia grumbled.

The four representatives of the Order laughed.

"You could say that." Jinn agreed.

Sure could Lando thought.


	5. Recce

The suface of Had Abaddon was a dense maze of tumbledown buildings, often open to the sky, making it difficult to tell street from interior. Luke steered the pressurized speeder through the tricky, twisty labyrinth at full speed trusting to his Force enhanced instincts and reflexes. Funny how it was so much easier to do that in a cockpit that with a sabre.

"Ben's dead." he blurted abruptly. Good going, Skywalker, real tactful!

"I know." Chani answered calmly, "I felt it." She gave him a sidelong look from dark rimmed blue eyes. "And I've seen him since."

Of course she had. "So that's where he keeps disappearing to." Luke muttered grabbing a few feet of altitude to avoid a fan of rubble littering the roadway. "And where'd you go to all those years ago? Word around Anchorhead was Ben had sold you to the Hutts."

She laughed. "Poor grandfather! I was thirteen and it was time to start my Padawan training, he sent me to join the other Jedi."

"Dai-Men was your teacher too?"

"Not likely!" another sidelong look, this one brimming with amusement. "I developed a major crush the minute I met him and infatuation plays havoc with the Padawan - Master relationship. My teacher was female, Kensai Anuril Windu. You won't be meeting her, I doubt she could get away if she even heard the Master's call."

"Where is she?" His hands automatically turned the speeder down a side way seconds before a precariously balanced wall collapsed across the road.

Dimples flashed. "Trust me, you don't want to know."

Luke glanced at her, she wore a dull gray thermo-suit just as he did but filled it out rather differently. He sensed worry. "Dangerous?"

Her answer held an acid bite. "You could say that." The speeder dipped into a crude, ill-lit tunnel beneath the wreckage of fallen towers.

"Why aren't you with her?"

"Because she wouldn't take me, damn her eyes!" Chani flared. Took a breath and deliberately changed the subject. "You were supposed to come too twelve years ago."

"I was?" Luke asked startled, veering around an all but invisible roof-fall.

"Absolutely. But Uncle Owen put his foot down. Grandfather could do as he liked with me but you were going to stay safe on Tatooine. None of this Jedi nonsense for you!" her voice softened. "He wanted to protect you of course. Understandable - and futile." she shrugged. "Grandfather knew the Force and your destiny would take a hand sooner or later so he decided to wait."

Luke shook his head disbelievingly as the speeder emerged into the light. "But if I'd started my training then I'd be a full fledged Jedi by now and Ben, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru would still be alive!"

"But you wouldn't have been on Tatooine to hear Princess Leia's call for help," Chani pointed out. "She would have died without delivering the Death Star plans to the Rebels and terror of the battle station would have cowed the outer systems into submission. Grandfather had more foresight than most, he knew what he was doing."

Luke decelerated to normal cruising speed as they entered the redoubt's detection range. The plan was to survey the surface before penetrating the redoubt itself. A plan that changed abruptly when a trio of white armored forms appeared on the roadway ahead of them. Luke hit the brakes.

"Restricted area." a bored trooper told them through the exterior mike. "Let's see your ID."

Luke dug in his pocket.

"What do you mean restricted?" Chani demanded aggressively, "this sector's down as unclaimed."

"My orders say it's restricted." the trooper droned.

Luke passed his Alliance Officer's card through the valve in the speeder's bubble, nudged with the Force. "It's in order."

"Everything in order here." the trooper agreed.

"So what's it about?" Chani persisted, "Somebody find something good and the Empire grab it?"

The trooper ignored her. "Move along."

Luke doubled back the way they'd come, pulled off into the shelter of a ruinous building and looked at Chani. "That's a surprise!"

"Sure is." she agreed, pulling out a comlink. It was a model unfamiliar to him, oval shaped and very compact. "Master? the situation's just become much more complicated."

Dai-Men's eyebrows rose and knit slightly. "Stormtroopers? According to the II file no Imperial action was being contemplated." he sat in the pilot's seat of the Jinx, with Jayce in the co-pilot's chair next to him and Raj cross-legged on the floor behind.

"A bit of personal initiative on the part of the local commander?" Jayce suggested.

"He'd have to be crazy to take on Mandalore with Stormtroopers." Mei-Qan pointed out.

"Maybe he doesn't mean to take them on." he persisted, "Had Abbadon is a dead end posting if ever there was one, perhaps he sees a deal with the Mandalore as a way out."

Raj sighed. "You have a depressingly cynical view of human nature, Jayce."

"But usually correct." the other Jedi retorted.

"That's what's so depressing."

"I don't think they know why they're there." Luke put in over the link. "Their sense was very bored, they wouldn't be feeling that way if they knew they were right on top of a bunch of Mandalorian Warriors!"

"They didn't turn nasty when I prodded," Mai-Qan added thoughtfully, "which suggests their commander keeps them on a tight rein and takes a dim view of mishandling civilians."

"Not the kind of man to conspire with Mandalore then." Dai-Men mused, "Interesting, I wonder what he has in mind?"

"Do we proceed?" Mei-Qan wanted to know.

"Yes, but be careful."

Luke, fervently: "You bet!"

Mei-Qan with mock hurt: "Always!"

Dai-Men rolled his eyes and cut the connection.

"A bit soon to be pushing him out of the nest isn't it?" Jayce asked, resuming the conversation the call had interrupted.

The Master sighed. "I can't let him become dependent on me. Luke has to be able to stand alone, he has some hard choices ahead and must learn to trust his own judgment."

Jayce shook his head. "Poor kid. You're expecting a hell of lot of him."

"I know."

Raj said quietly, "Does he know about his father?"

"I'm not sure," the Master answered. "I think he suspects, I sense conflict whenever Anakin's name comes up."

"Doesn't he have a right to know?" Raj pressed.

"Better not." Jayce argued. "If he's to destroy the Sith it won't help his focus to know one of them used to be his father."

Raj looked up at him, eyes glinting through a tangle of curls. "Used to be?"

"You sound like Obi-Wan," Dai-Men said disapprovingly, and quoted: "'Anakin Skywalker is dead, devoured by the Dark Side.'"

"Isn't that the way to look at it?" Jayce asked, then continued defensively in the face of his companion's evident disagreement: "Granted I never knew him personally, like you two did, but even I find it easier to think of Anakin Skywalker as a different person than Darth Vader."

"Easier perhaps," Raj said grimly, "but is it true?"

"He could have killed Luke on Bespin," the Master mused, "I'd like to know why he didn't."

Raj's wide blue eyes grew wider. "You think he has some feeling for the boy?"

"It's possible," said Dai-Men, "and if it's true it means Anakin Skywalker isn't quite dead after all." He looked at Jayce. "When I said as much to Master Yoda he told me there is no way back from the Dark Side, but you and I know better."

Long red eyebrows curled as the younger Jedi frowned. "But I was Dark less than a year, Skywalker's been seeped in the Sith way for over two decades." then he flashed a startlingly brilliant smile. "And he doesn't have you to help him."

The Master looked thoughtful.

"That's right," Raj said dryly, "Go giving him ideas!"

"No!" Jayce rapped out emphatically, "I won't let you do it!"

Dai-Men grinned wickedly. "You think you can stop me?"

"The three of us can." Raj said firmly, "Four with young Luke." a pause, then a rueful: "I hope."

The Master laughed. Jayce didn't. "If you challenge Vader you'll die." he said flatly, "Or don't you believe your own mother?"

"The present changes the future, as Mother always says." Dai-Men reminded. "Don't worry, Jayce, I doubt I could reach Anakin if Obi-Wan failed. Luke....Luke is a different matter. And maybe one other..." his voice trailed off pensively.

Jayce was not to be distracted. "I want your word, Master, you won't challenge Vader or Anakin Skywalker!"

Dai-Men bowed his head. "I promise." 

His former Padawan relaxed warily. Surely that was plain enough that not even Dai-Men could wriggle out of it. Or could he?

'Forget past and future,' Dai-Men had said time and again, 'focus on the moment.' yet Luke couldn't help wondering how in the Galaxy his Master had managed to negotiate the tiny access tunnel without frying himself on the power conduits. Levitation? or had he somehow used the Force to shrink himself a few crucial centimeters? By now Luke was ready to believe almost anything.

A light appeared at the end of the tunnel, Chani was through. A few seconds later Luke followed her wriggling out into a distinctly familiar ambience. "Power core," he sighed, looking over the catwalk rail into the depths. "I always end up in the power core."

She nodded wisely. "It's a Jedi trait, we instinctively seek the center."

Huh? He stared at her. "You serious?"

Dimples sparkled. "No, but it sounds good."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Do all Jedi make bad jokes in the middle of a dangerous mission?"

She shrugged. "All the ones I know."

He heaved another sigh. "Guess I'll just have to get used to it then. Where's the map?"

Leia had chosen to remain in the relatively spacious and comfortably familiar confines of the Falcon. Chewy would have insisted on it anyway. He took Han's final order to take care of her very, very seriously. He might be willing to leave her with Luke but not with three strangers, Jedi or no. She sat alone at the table in the main cabin and fidgeted. Part of her formal training as a Princess of Alderaan had been how to sit still for hours at a time - yet she fidgeted.

There was nothing to do but wait, and waiting was not her strong suit. She was worried about Luke. She'd feel a lot better if Master Jinn were with him instead of that blond! She caught herself up, 'that blond' was a Jedi Knight and General Kenobi's granddaughter. The girl had barely said a dozen words to her so why did she feel so hostile? Surely not because she'd been Luke's childhood sweetheart? Leia could read print, she saw the signs.

'But - I'm in love with Han, so how can I be jealous of Luke?' She sighed. It was all so confusing....she did love Han, infuriatingly unsuitable as he was. The princess in her said it would never work, the woman didn't give a damn. But she'd become so close to Luke these last months. He was her best friend in the universe, yet there was more to it than that....Oh Damn! 'Face it, Leia, you want them both and there's no way that can work.'

She sighed again and sank deeper into the couch in depression, then pulled herself up with a surge of determination. It would sort itself out once they were together again she promised herself. Once they had Han back - she smiled; and that would be soon now, very soon – the three of them would work it out somehow. She loved them both and they both loved her and each other too. There would be a way, they'd find a way. She'd lost enough in her life, she wasn't about to lose either of her men! Oh, damn! What was taking Luke so long?

"I think you counted that one twice." Chani said into his ear, warm breath tickling the tiny hairs and sending decidedly distracting tingles down his spin.

Focus, remember focus. "They all look alike in that damned armor." he complained, sotto-voce."Don't they ever take it off?"

"Don't think so." he felt her shrug, causing still more distracting sensations. "You'll have to ask Dai-Men. Tatty looking lot aren't they?"

Luke had to agree. The concealing armor was scratched and scarred and the decorative half cloaks ragged. Only their weapons seemed in prime condition, including a few lethal looking devices he couldn't identify. "Any idea which one's Fett?"

"Luke, I'm only a year older than you remember?" came the sardonic whisper. "I've never seen a Mandalore before either. Your princess would know, she saw Fett on Bespin."

His princess?

"Guess we've seen all we need to." Chani concluded. "Shall we go?"

"How?" it was a fair question. The ventilation shaft wasn't really wide enough for two but Chani hadn't let that stop her. She'd crawled up his back to get her own view of the Mandelore armory below. Now they were crammed together like tube packed plion fish.

She laughed softly, "That's easy, turn on your side."

It wasn't easy at all. It was awkward and more than a little embarrassing, but eventually they were nose to nose. Chani put her arms around his neck, increasing his discomfort. "Now let go."

"Huh?"

"Let go!" she repeated and kicked loose the feet he'd braced against the sides of the shaft. They slid down the gentle incline, gathering speed. Luke's arms tightening involuntarily around his partner as they tobogganed around twists and turns to finally shoot out the end of the shaft landing on nearly thirty years worth of wind-drift at the bottom of the main ventilation well.

"Ooff!" Luke wheezed.

Chani laughed. "It's always easier going down."

He gave his childhood friend a decidedly unfriendly look. "Dai-Men's right, you haven't changed a bit."

She made a face. "You have. When'd you get so stiff and proper?"

"Huh?" Luke stared, "who me?"

"Yes you! What was it, your Rebel officer's training?"

"A Jedi must have the deepest commitment, the most serious mind." Luke quoted with an attempt at dignity.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, Yoda! I should have known." she got to her feet and headed for the access hatch.

After a startled second Luke followed. "You know Master Yoda?"

"Only by reputation." she replied over her shoulder. "Nasty, dreary little creature!"

"He's not!" Luke protested, ducking his head to enter the cramped access-way.

She snorted. "Well that's how he sounds. Grandfather likes him," she conceded, "and Dai-Men too, for all he was so mean to him."

"What?" Luke asked, "When? how?"

"When Yoda was training him as a boy." She answered, opening the hatch to the Power core. "And I call not letting a seven year old boy see his own mother mean, don't you?"

"Yoda did that?" he said uneasily, "why?"

"Because he thought Kensai Moriah would be a bad influence." Chani paused on the catwalk to tilt her head thoughtfully. "He may have had a point there, look how Raj turned out."

"Huh?" Luke was lost.

"She was his Teacher for a while." Chani explained, "And Raj is a bit odd, I'm sure you noticed."

Like he could miss it. "She's not my princess." He blurted out of nowhere.

Chani took the one-eighty without a blink. "No?"

"No. She's in love with Han, Captain Solo, the man she's here to rescue."

"Maybe. But she loves you too." a sly, sidelong glance, "and she wasn't at all happy about you going off with another woman!"

He'd picked up on that too. "She loves me like a friend - a brother."

Chani turned away from the opening to the power tunnel to look directly up at him. The crystal azure eyes she'd inherited from Ben were ablaze with an emotion Luke couldn't quite interpret. "She's your sister."

"Yeah," he said defensively. Okay, maybe it was the corniest old line in the Galaxy but that was how Leia felt to him, like family, the only one either of them had now. "We've sort of adopted each other."

"Nice." Chani said and disappeared into the tunnel.

Leia heard the outer lock open and bolted for the passage to find it full of Jedi. The fact that three of them were exceptionally tall had something to do with the crowded impression, as did the flowing brown robes they all wore, even Luke.

She stared at him. for the first time he was dressed as a Jedi in a high necked ivory tunic and a dark brown robe that was slightly to long for him. They looked like, and undoubtedly were, hand me downs. Yet in another, less literal sense, they fit perfectly.

Luke saw her staring and shrugged embarrassed. "My uniform got kind of messed up."

"Thermo suits stick." Mei-Qan said tersely, adding to Luke. "I thought you knew you weren't supposed to wear anything under it."

He blushed. "I never wore one before, I thought it was like a pressure suit."

"No great harm done." Master Jinn consoled as they entered the main cabin. "Except for that one, forgivable error you did very well. You got the information we needed and kept Mei-Qan out of trouble. I'm impressed."

"That's right, pick on the girl." she quipped back easily, "But I'm not the one who spent three weeks in an Imperial Labor Battalion!"

"We are none of us perfect." Dai-Men agreed tranquilly, while Jayce and Raj strangled laughter and Luke stared incredulously.

"The good news is the redoubt's almost exactly the way you remember it; two defensive rings around a core area including an underground hanger bay." Luke said, recovering himself and spreading the map Dai-Men had drawn for them on the table. It had only one or two scribbled emendations. "The bad news is there's a lot more of them then we thought. At least thirty, maybe a few more."

Leia and Lando exchanged a dismayed look. Chewy vented an unhappy roar.

Jayce lifted a curling brow. "Six to one? A little steep for me."

"Me too." Raj agreed.

Mei-Qan shrugged. "I'll do it if I have to."

"But you'd rather not to have to." Dai-men finished crisply. "As would I. Obviously it would be better if we didn't have to engage them all at once."

"Yeah but how are you going to arrange that?" Lando wanted to know.

"I'm not sure yet." the Master conceded. "But I think the first step is to have a little talk with the Imperial Commander."

Note: As I have a real problem with calling women 'Master' and obviously 'Mistress' will not do, (and I can't say I'm crazy about 'Madame' either) I have invented 'Kensai', an obvious adaptation of the Japanese word Sensei, as the Star Wars language equivalent of 'Teacher', just as 'Padawan' means 'Learner', and applied it to female 'Masters'.


	6. Imperial Backup

Dai-Men stood in the center of the Falcon's airlock, a towering brown cloaked column with his arms folded into the sleeves of his robe, and stared impassively down at the determined young woman before him.

Leia looked up at nearly two meters of formidable Jedi Master and stuck to her guns. "I'm a trained diplomat," she reminded him. "I could be useful."

"And if you're recognized?" he asked.

"Well you are a Jedi Knight." she replied, eyes widening guilessly. "Surely you can protect me from a few dozen Imperial troopers."

Behind her Luke, wisely keeping well clear of the confrontation, gave a snort of ill-suppressed laughter.

Was that a smile on the Master's face? if so it was gone almost at once. Suddenly the dark blue eyes unfocused, no longer seeing her but something else - the future? He blinked back to the now and said, "This is not a good idea."

"Like sending Luke into a fortress full of Mandalorian Warriors was?"

Definitely a smile. "I thought it was. Very well, your Highness, stay close to me."

Leia had every intention of following the Jedi Master's instructions to the letter now that she'd gotten her way. She wasn't sure why she was so determined to go with him. Maybe she was just tired of waiting around. She knew it was dangerous, to the Jedi as well as herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that somehow her presence would help. Wishful thinking maybe but after all it was Dai-Men who kept saying 'Follow your feelings."

She glanced covertly up at him. If anybody was risking recognition it was the Master, his long brown robe and well worn sand colored tunic might melt into the crowd on an agricultural planet but here, surrounded by shipsuits and Corellian vests, he stood out like - she groped for a simile - like a very tall tree in the midst of Coruscant's towers.

"The Jedi have been officially non-existent for nearly a generation." he said quietly. "Even our pictures have been proscribed. Nobody will recognize me for what I am."

Leia blinked. "Luke's right, you do read minds!"

He gave her a sideways smile that reminded her with a pang of Han. "Not minds, faces." he said and added teasingly: "I didn't expect a 'trained diplomat' to be so transparent."

She sniffed in mock offense and put on her best 'princess face'. "Better?"

"A little."

The princess-face slipped into a grin. Leia pulled it back into place and wondered yet again why Dai-Men seemed so familiar. Not as if she'd known him before but somebody like him....Maybe it was a Jedi trait. Raj Naberrie affected her the same way, and even the Kenobi girl. But Mei-Qan looked a lot like the holos Leia'd seen of her grandfather General Kenobi, especially the eyes, which probably explained that.

Jayce on the other hand felt like a total stranger. Luke had heard of him apparently as a pod-racer. She inwardly shook her head, that seemed like a funny thing for a Jedi to do. And Lando was apparently an old friend. Not exactly a recommendation considering what Lando's friends were like. Of course Han was one of Lando's friends too, could a Jedi be a scoundrel? She suppressed another grin. Maybe so, scoundrels did have their points!

After five minutes inside the Imperial garrison she was beginning to wonder if this had been such a good idea after all. She hadn't seen so many stormtroopers in one place since the Death Star and they were all staring at her.

"Men usually look twice at a beautiful woman." The Master murmured, reading her mind again. "Especially bored and lonely soldiers."

Was that really all it was? She calmed down a little and looked carefully, if covertly, back and read no suspicion in the eyes fixed on her, just a rather flattering appreciation and occasional touch of wistfulness.

Leia had never thought highly of her own looks, comparing herself unfavorably to her tall, elegant aunts and dim childhood memories of a dark, delicate face with sad brown eyes. Of course people had told her she was beautiful, but compliments paid a princess were not to be trusted. Nobody had ever been so disrespectful as to ogle her - until Han! Or called her beautiful not as a compliment but as a simple statement of fact. There was nothing offensive or lascivious in the stares directed at her. Really these Imperials were as well behaved as Rebel soldiers. Polite, even pleasant. It was very strange.

"Do you have an appointment, sir?" the clerk outside the C.O.'s office asked Dai-Men courteously.

"I'm afraid not." the Jedi Master replied. "It concerns sector 9-10-00."

The man's eyes widened slightly. "One moment please." He spoke urgently into his desk com, a hush field rendering his words and the response inaudible.

"Please go in." he said.

The Imperial commander was a youngish man, about Han's age, with a strained, edgy look to him. He scrutinized the Master and Leia briefly before demanding, "What about sector 9-10-00?"

"What about the Mandalore?" Dai-Men countered composedly.

"You know about them." the commander said flatly.

"As do you." the Master agreed, "Do you have a plan?"

"Are you kidding?" the commander pushed back his chair and began to pace restlessly. "I don't have the troops or equipment to take on even a handful of Mandalorians."

"There's more than a handful down there I'm afraid." Dai-Men said. "We estimate at least thirty."

"Thirty!" the commander stopped in his tracks and stared at the Jedi appalled. "So many?"

"At least. Have you communicated with Coruscant?"

"They're not interested." the Imperial snapped. "Either they don't believe me or they just don't care."

"They don't care." Leia heard herself say bitterly. "Why should they? They won't be the ones to suffer."

The young commander gave her a brief but penetrating look. "You could be right, ma'am."

"Would you be open to another offer?" the Master inquired.

"You kidding? I'll take any help I can get! From anybody - even the Rebel Alliance!"

Leia just managed not to choke on her own breath.

Dai-Men didn't turn a hair. "That describes our position as well," he said smoothly, "perhaps we can help each other."

"That was awfully easy." Leia said dubiously as they walked back to the ship. "Did you put a whammy on him?"

Dai-Men cleared his throat with some care before replying. "No, your Highness, it wasn't necessary. Captain Aiton is, as he said, desperate enough to snatch at any straw."

"That crack about taking help even from the Alliance," she continued uneasily, "you don't think he suspects -?"

"Probably just a figure of speech." the Master soothed.

The other Jedi took the news they were to have Imperial support philosophically. As Luke whispered to her nothing Dai-Men did could surprise them any more. Lando and Chewy were less jaded. They objected strenuously and Leia had to do some fast talking to cool them down and convince them the Master knew what he was doing - she hoped.

"Twins." Mei-Qan said flatly.

"Yes." Raj confirmed then sighed, "I was there when they were born. Obi-Wan and Padme decided Luke would be trained as a Jedi but Leia was to follow in her mother's footsteps."

The four Jedi had returned to the Jinx on the pretext of collecting some equipment. Luke had remained behind on the Falcon allowing them to speak freely.

"A princess," said Jayce, "but not of Naboo."

"That wasn't possible." Raj explained, "They had to be hidden, all three of them. Master Anakin didn't know about the twins but he was searching for Padme, he wanted her back. So Obi-Wan took Luke to Tatooine, probably the last planet in the universe Master would ever go back to. And Bail Organa hid Padme and adopted her daughter as his own." he looked curiously at Mei-Qan. "How did you know?"

"Something Luke said made the pieces fall together." she shrugged. "They don't know, not consciously, but their feelings betray the truth."

"Obi-Wan and Yoda seem to be keeping a great many secrets from Luke." Dai-Men observed thoughtfully.

"His father and his sister." Raj agreed, his disapproval obvious.

"It's not for us to question their judgment." The Master said firmly. "Luke is their responsibility, doubtless they have their reasons."

"He's your Padawan." Raj pointed out.

"And if he asks me a direct question I will answer it honestly. But I won't volunteer information his Masters have chosen to withhold."

"And neither should I." said Raj resignedly. "Very well."

"What about our so-called princess?" Jayce asked.

"Nothing so-called about it." Dai-Men said crisply. "By Alderaani law an adopted child has exactly the same status as a natural one. Legally Leia is not only a princess but the rightful heir to the House of Organa."

"Okay, so she's really a princess." Jayce conceded, lifting his hands in surrender. "But I take it she's also been kept in ignorance?"

"Kensai Moriah saw to it she'd be - incurious - about her birth family." Raj admitted. "She remembers Padme, at least I hope she does, and knows she's adopted. Bail was to tell her her real father had been his good friend and comrade in arms."

"True enough, as far as it goes." Jayce nodded.

"As far as it goes." Raj echoed grimly.

Somewhat later, after the two younger Jedi had returned to the Falcon, Raj raised another question with the Master.

"You really believe Luke can somehow reach Master Anakin and turn him back to the Light Side?"

"I know it sounds unlikely," Dai-Men admitted, "but I sense the possibility."

"You said something about another," Raj continued, his clown's face tightening with an old pain, "I hope you didn't mean me."

"Anakin killed Obi-Wan, his own Master." Dai-Men reminded his friend gently.

"I know." Raj scraped up a wry smile. "And Kaljeyru, and a few thousand others. I shouldn't take it so personally."

"Raj, I've lost two Masters to death and that was bad enough. I can only imagine how much it hurts to have your own Master turn against you."

"Not to mention finding out your second cousin once removed is a Sith." the other Jedi replied with false lightness. "Taken altogether not one of my better days." his voice fell. "Sometimes I think Obi-Wan has a point. It would be so much easier if I could believe it somehow wasn't really Anakin Skywalker who tried to kill me." then he looked up, wide eyes filmed with tears. "But it was. It was my own Master, dark or no, and he wanted me dead."

Dai-Men reached out to squeeze his friend's shoulder. "But you got away," he reminded softly, "maybe because deep down he wanted you to escape."

"Maybe. I'd like to think so." Raj pulled out a large multi-colored handkerchief to mop his eyes. "What were we talking about before I sidetracked us into this emotional bog?"

"You wanted to know who besides Luke might be able to reach the good still in Anakin." the Master replied. "I was thinking of my father. He believed in Ani, in his destiny. He just might be able to break through Darth Vader's armor."

Raj tilted his head quizzically. "Your father's been dead for forty years."

"From a certain point of view." Dai-Men smiled.

Leia couldn't sleep. Not even Sensana relaxation techniques helped. She looked at the chronometer, three quarters of an hour to go. Lying in bed fretting wasn't doing her any good. She might as well get up.

The main cabin was empty except for Raj Naberrie sitting at the game table playing with a set of holocards. No, not playing, practicing magic tricks. Leia smiled reminiscently. Her great aunt, Auntie Mor, had done card tricks for her when she was little. Making them appear and disappear, dance with each other and morph into 3-D images. She could remember pestering Auntie to do them over and over. And somebody else - she frowned in concentration, trying to remember. A boy who'd seemed almost grown up then but was younger than she was now, with wide blue eyes, a beaky nose and thatch of disordered brown curls...

"Raj!"

He looked up, initial surprise giving way to a suddenly familiar toothy grin. "So you do remember."

"What - what were you doing on Alderaan?" she sputtered.

Eyebrows disappeared beneath the fringe of curls. "Hiding of course. Like every other Jedi. Your Great Aunt Moriah was my Teacher for a time."

"Auntie Mor was a Jedi!" Leia gasped.

"And a powerful one, if somewhat eccentric." another grin. "Make that very eccentric! Eventually she passed me on to Dai-Men's Padawan Master for further training."

"Auntie Mor knew Master Jinn?"

Raj looked at her in astonishment. "Her own son? Of course she knows him!"

"Her son?" Leia exclaimed. "Auntie Mor was Master Jinn's mother?"

"That's right." Raj was beginning to look worried. "You didn't know?"

"Nobody bothered to tell me." Leia replied through clenched teeth.

Lando was still worried about the Imperials. "Luke, Leia, Chewy and I are all wanted Rebels." He ranted to Jayce. "The Jedi aren't even supposed to exist any more! Yet Jinn calmly walks into Imp headquarters and proposes a deal! He's got to be crazy -"

"No, just willing to take long chances." Jayce smiled. "You should understand that, Lando."

"Yeah, well..." the gambler grumbled. Long odds were one thing when cash was at stake but this was their lives.

"Master trusts in the Force." Jayce continued. "I admit it's sometimes hard on those of us with less faith. But he's never been wrong yet."

"There's always a first time." Lando said gloomily.

"There are too many Mandalore for us to risk engaging them en-mass." Jayce reminded him patiently. "The Stormtroopers can help us divide them into more manageable lots."

"Manageable!" the gambler snorted. "I know you can handle yourself, Jayce, and I bet Jinn can too, crazy or not. But what about Naberrie? or Luke? Not to mention that little girl. You can't seriously mean to pit her against a Mandalorian warrior!"

Jayce laughed long and hard and all but silently as Lando shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "That 'little girl'," he said, when he'd gotten his breath back, "may be the second best sabre fighter alive. Not that there's all that much competition these days." Jayce shrugged. "Mei-Qan's better than I am, a lot better. So is Raj for that matter - he's got a few more years experience behind him." he shook his head at his friend. "Don't judge a Jedi by appearances, Lando, we'll fool you every time."

Luke shared Lando's doubts, at least as far his own skills were concerned.

"Skill will come with practice, Luke." his Master consoled as they walked down the passage to the Falcon's main cabin. "The Force is much more important. Trust in it and you'll do fine."

"Even if I am the worst swordsman in the whole Jedi Order." Luke said gloomily.

Dai-Men grinned. "Not while my mother's alive you're not!"

His mother? Before Luke could ask more they'd entered the main cabin to find everybody but Chani there before them. Then Leia rose from the game table to fix them with a glacial stare that froze Luke in his tracks. 'What've I done now?' he wondered frantically - then realized she wasn't looking at him at all, but at the Master.

"Something wrong, Princess?" Dai-Men asked mildly.

"You could say that." she snapped, voice edged with the clipped Core-worlds intonation she used when she was being formal - or very angry. "I'd say there's something wrong when practically my only living relative doesn't see fit to mention the fact to me!"

Huh? Luke was mystified but the Master seemed to know what she was talking about. He looked at Raj who shrugged, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know it was a secret."

"It's not." Dai-Men sighed and turned back to the angry Princess. "I'm sorry, Leia, you're right I should have told you." he spread his hands in apology. "I'm afraid I have a bad habit of keeping things to myself."

"You can say that again!" Jayce muttered from his corner.

Luke was still confused. "You two are related?"

"Master Jinn's mother was my great aunt." Leia explained. "Which makes us cousins."

He looked up at his Master in astonishment. "You're a Prince of Alderaan?"

Dai-Men shook his head. "I am a Jedi, like my father before me. Mother too for that matter." he continued to Leia. "I only visited Alderaan once as a boy, and never did learn much about the Organa heritage. I'm afraid I tend to forget about it."

"I don't know all that much about my mother's side of the family either." Leia admitted, mollified, the smiled almost shyly. "I've been wondering who you reminded me of."

The Master's eyebrows lifted. "Most people say I look just like my father."

"I wouldn't know about that, but you have Auntie Mor's eyes. And you talk just like her sometimes." Leia smiled at her memories. "I was crazy about her when I was little. But I never knew she was a Jedi or that she had a son."

"It came as something of a surprise to my grandparents as well." Dai-Men recalled, sitting down across the table from her. "It seems Mother forgot to tell them she had a child."

Raj laughed. "That's sounds like her."

"I remember she was terribly absent minded." said Leia.

"Mother is a powerful seer." Dai-Men explained. "Sometimes she loses track what has been, what is, and what is yet to come."

To Luke's relief Leia seemed completely over her snit, though he couldn't really blame her for it. She'd lost her entire family when Alderaan was destroyed, all but a brother who'd gone over to the Empire. Even a distant cousin had to be some consolation. Dai-Men's mother sounded like quite a character. He remembered Yoda had considered her a bad influence.

Suddenly Chani popped out of the lock passage, blue eyes dancing with mischief. "Better get anything incriminating out of sight." she warned, "They're here."

"Stormtroopers aboard the Falcon. And by invitation no less!" Lando grumbled to Chewy. "Good thing Han can't see this."

The Wookiee barked a rueful agreement.


	7. Battle Is Joined

The holo-image rotated in the center of the main cabin like a glowing blue wheel with a large spherical hub and two rims. Dai-Men Jinn was a tall, lean shadow off to one side his voice brisk and businesslike.

"As you can see the redoubt has two defensive rings around a central core. We need to hit them at three points simultaneously; I recommend the power center, main armory and hanger." The three areas flashed red; power center on the outer ring, armory on the inner and hanger right in the middle of the hub.

Gef Aiton nodded to himself, Jinn knew what he was about all right. All three targets were vital yet widely separated. The Mandalorians would have to divide their forces to defend them.

"But how are you going to bypass the outer ring?" Lieutenant Nentres objected.

"I thought one of your tunnelers." Jinn replied.

"Up from below or down from above?" the Captain asked.

"From above. You've gotten them used to traffic overhead, they might fail to notice the tunneler until it's too late."

"Agreed." Aiton nodded, ignoring his second's scandalized look. "And the hanger?"

"The Falcon will blast her way in." Jinn announced calmly.

"Say What?" the freighter's human captain started to his feet anything but calmly while his Wookiee co-pilot yowled a supporting protest.

Jinn didn't turn a hair. "I'm sorry, it has to be the Falcon. The Jinx is just too big."

"That'll be fine." Princess Leia cut in, giving the pair a stern look. "The hanger's just where we want to be."

The two pilots didn't look happy but they didn't argue any more.

Aiton hid a smile. Once he'd recognized her Highness it hadn't been hard to guess who 'Lando', 'Luke' and the Wookiee were. He wondered idly where Han Solo had gotten to, he was supposed to be a regular member of the Princess' circle.

Jinn on the other hand was a complete mystery. Aiton was sure he'd never heard his name before or his companions', though the girl's seemed to ring a distant bell. As did the long brown robes they all wore like a uniform. Whoever he was Jinn had obviously done this kind of thing before which was reassuring. Aiton had no idea why the Rebel Alliance had decided to concern itself with Had Abaddon and frankly didn't much care. But Nentres was a worrier.

"If headquarters ever finds out you've co-operated with the Rebs -"

"Headquarters wouldn't care if I sold Had Abaddon to the Hutts." Aiton had countered.

That was inarguable forcing the Lieutenant to shift ground. "What makes you think they can stand up to Mandalorians?"

"They got the Deathstar didn't they?" That had shut him up. Temporarily anyway.

The tunneler smashed through the outer plascrete shell then a ferroplas ceiling to land with a reverberating crash, nose down in the middle of the armory. The tunneler itself pretty much plugged the hole it had made but a couple of troopers spayed sealant around it anyway, to prevent pressure loss, as the main body dispersed to the cover of assorted crates and lockers and the special weapons team set up the heavy turbos. The brown robes, looking incongruously human and vulnerable amidst all that white armor, stayed near their leader who stayed near Aiton.

"Lt. Nentres, report." the Captain said into his helmet comlink.

"We're in." his second responded. He was commanding the assault on the power center.

"Remember stay under cover, take no chances. All you've got to do is keep them busy."

"Yeah, I know. I was at the briefing." Nentres snapped back.

His C.O. grinned at the Lieutenant's by now traditional bad temper and switched frequencies. "Lando?"

"We're through." The Rebel reported over the crumph of blaster fire. "And the welcoming committee is pretty unhappy about it!"

"Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks." Lando snorted and clicked off.

At that moment the armory doors and entire front wall began to glow a soft lambent orange.

"Here they come!" a trooper shouted - probably one of the most unnecessary warnings in all military history - then the entire front of the room imploded.

Blaster fire streaked through the smoke and dust, blanketing fire with no hits. As the air cleared Aiton made out some eleven Mandalorians in staggered ranks. The stormtroopers returned fire with a will blasting holes in walls and ceiling but splashing ineffectively off the Mandalorian armor. Not even the heavy turbo lasers seemed to effect them.

Aiton wasn't surprised, Mandalore immunity to conventional weaponry was legendary. Still the plan was working, they had split their forces as predicted. Suddenly he felt Jinn's hand on his shoulder. "Cease fire, Captain."

Aiton echoed the command, ignoring the snorts and grunts of protest from his men. "Okay, Jinn, your move."

The enemy stopped firing when the stormtroopers did and stood there, motionless and menacing, waiting. To Aiton's astonishment Jinn calmly stepped out into the open followed by his team of brown robes. They formed a line facing the Mandalorian ranks; three men, a boy and a girl, apparently unarmed.

Yet the enemy seemed intimidated. One raised his rifle to fire only to have it knocked aside by the warrior next to him. Then, in almost perfect unison the Mandalorians laid down their blasters and drew palm sized hand devices that emitted a high, shrill whine.

'What the-?' Aiton wondered. But before he could finish the thought five, meter long bars of light, two green and three blue, hissed into existence in the brown robes' hands. Suddenly the pieces fell together. 'Jedi!'

The two bands of mythic warriors, neither of whom was supposed to exist any longer, joined battle. Aiton remembered the Mandalorians' hand to hand weapon of choice was the sonic rapier; a thin beam of sculpted sound which was effectively invisible. He quickly saw that their style of fighting also varied from the Jedi's. The latter used the edge of their weapon in strike and counterstrike, but the warriors preferred the tip, thrusting and parrying. And their armor was resistant though not invulnerable to lightsabre.

Yet outnumbered though they were, the Jedi were more than holding their own. In fact they were winning! Somehow - magically - they seemed to know exactly where their opponents' invisible blades were every second and accurately anticipated their every move. The whirling attacks the Jedi seemed to prefer at first struck Aiton as pointless and dangerous then he realized they were using the momentum of their spins to slice into the super-hard armor.

Jinn was visibly the best of the lot. Fast, powerful and elegantly economical using to the full his advantages in height and reach. But the girl was a close second. Suddenly synapses fused; Of course, Kenobi! Obi-Wan Kenobi the Jedi General. This sweet young thing must be a relative. Certainly she was a spectacular fighter; small and lightening fast she seemed to dance circles around her bulky opponents.

The two other men were less dazzling but no less dangerous. Darklighter in particular had an icy precision, a sort of focused deadliness that Aiton would hate to find himself on the wrong side of. Naberrie was a genuine surprise. His gawkiness vanished when he had a lightsabre in his hand, and his attacks had a calculated randomness that made them hard to predict or counter.

Young Skywalker was a tyro by comparison with none of the grace or technique exhibited by his colleagues, but he was just as fast and the Mandalorians didn't seem to be finding him any easier to handle. Suddenly seven of the enemy were down and the four survivors were pounding away up the corridor, retreating!

Jinn turned on Darklighter who was clutching his arm. "How bad."

"A glancing blow," the other Jedi replied tightly. "arm's numb."

"Stay close to me." Jinn instructed. "Luke, stay with Mei-Qan."

"Yes, Master." no false pride there.

"We are going to pursue, aren't we?" Aiton asked, joining them.

"Yes" Jinn glanced at him with eyes at once distant and utterly focused, as if he were getting messages from some sense other than the conventional ones. "Keep behind us, Captain. We've lost the advantage of surprise, they'll be ready for us now."

Life is full of little surprises but finding himself fighting shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of hardbacks was one hell of a twist. Crouching behind one of the Falcon's landing struts Lando felt his frustration mount as blaster fire just splashed off Mandalorian armor.

"We're not even denting them!" he shouted to the Imp sergeant sharing his cover.

"What about your ships' guns?" the other yelled back.

"No good. Dorsal and belly turrets, we couldn't even align them." the Falcon's weaponry had been designed for use in the three dimensions of outer space.

The sergeant's head turned sharply. "Rik! Tobit! hit dirt!"

Lando looked over in time to see two troopers tackle Chewy, all three falling flat just as a ball of plasma sizzled over them to impact on the Falcon's underside, sending white hot bits of reflector dish flying in all directions. He winced. 'Han's gonna kill me for that!'. Then scrambled over to see how Chewy was.

One of the Imps was patting the Wookiee on the back. "Sorry about that, didn't have time to explain."

"S'all right." Lando interpreted Chewy's slightly abashed growl for the hardbacks then looked around. "Where's Leia?"

"She followed the advance team." the other stormtrooper replied, a grin evident in his voice. "Real little spitfire isn't she?"

"You can say that again!" the gambler agreed with fervor.

Peering into the continuous fire ahead he could make out Leia and a clutch of troopers pinned down behind a stack of cargo crates. Lando took a bracing breath then ran the heart stopping dozen or so meters, bent almost double, to join them. He collapsed breathless beside the Princess.

"I don't see Slave I!" she shouted above the blaster impacts. Talk about your one track minds!

"There are a dozen ships in here, Leia!" he yelled back. "Remember this is a holding action. Wait till the Jedi get here, then we'll find it."

"Jedi?" an incredulous hardback turned his expressionless helmet to them. "You gotta be kidding!"

"I don't believe it either." Lando admitted, "But I'm not kidding."

"The Jedi are all dead!" another trooper protested.

"Yeah, and so are these guys." Lando retorted, firing another useless burst at the Mandalorians.

"Cap'n," Nentres voice crackled over Aiton's helmet com. "the Mandalorians just pulled out. Should we pursue?"

"No! stay under cover, it could be a fient." But Aiton was willing to bet it wasn't.

He hurried to catch up with Jinn's long stride. "The Mandalorians have abandoned the power center."

The Jedi nodded. "They've gone to join their comrades somewhere ahead."

"We'll be at the junction tunnel to the outer ring in another two turns." Skywalker contributed.

"They'll hit us there." Jinn agreed. "Fall back, captain."

Aiton obeyed, this was no time for false pride on his part either. He and his men were outclassed and everybody knew it.

There was no standoff this time. Jinn and his Jedi sailed right into the Mandalorians not even breaking stride. The first fight had been a series of individual duels. This time the enemy seemed to have a strategy. After a moment Aiton realized they had succeeded in driving a wedge between the Jedi with Jinn, Darklighter and Naberrie on one side and Luke and the girl, on the other, forcing the latter into the corridor to the outer ring.

But it didn't seem to be doing the Mandalorians any good. Their number had been halved in the first minutes of the fight. Suddenly the remainder pulled back, but before the Jedi could either regroup or reengage the enemy the blast doors came down cutting them off from the Mandelorians and the two kids too.


	8. The Battle Is Won

Jinn crossed to the blast doors separating him from his two youngsters in three long strides and placed a strong, square hand flat against it. He stood a moment with head bowed then looked over at Aiton. "I've told Luke and Mei-Qan to join your men in the power core. They'll make their way to the hanger by an alternate route."

Told them? through a meter thick neutro-titanium door? Yet somehow Aiton didn't feel inclined to doubt him. "Right." he opened a channel. "Nentres, Luke and the girl are on their way to you. Don't blast them, okay?"

Jinn moved to face the blast doors blocking their way to the hub, Naberrie joined him.

"We'll rendezvous at the hanger." Aiton continued into his comlink. "Don't start anything without us, it'll take a while to burn our way through -"

Just as Jinn and Naberrie simultaneously ignited their sabres and plunged the glowing green blades hilt deep into the doors. Aiton's jaw sagged as the metal began to glow and run casting a red light over the two Jedi's calm, intent faces.

"Cap'n? you still there?"

"Yeah.....maybe this won't take as long as I thought. Aiton out."

Darklighter was standing, back to the doors, those chill pale eyes fixed on the corridor behind them, his lightsabre held at the ready in one hand. Obviously he was expecting trouble and he was probably right - surely the Mandalorians wouldn't depend on just the doors to stop them. Aiton began watching the corridor too, but even so Darklighter spotted the threat seconds before he did.

"Master, destroyers!"

In an instant the other two Jedi had whipped their lightsabres free of the now gently glowing doors and aligned themselves beside their comrade.

A trio of faintly insectoid droids rolled up like wheels, then uncurled and opened fire. Instinctively the troopers hit the deck but the droids ignored them, concentrating their fire on the three Jedi - who stood in a row, their lightsabres a blur, as they deflected the bolts back to explode ineffectually against the droids' shields.

'So that's why the Mandalorians didn't shoot at them!' Aiton thought, enlightened, as he scrambled back to his feet.

"I think your turbo lasers might be of help here, captain." Jinn said calmly, batting blaster bolts like they were balf balls.

"Oh, sure. Sergeant, give them five rounds rapid."

It took two rounds to eliminate the shields and the other three to reduce the droids to scrap. Whereupon Jinn and his partner calmly resumed carving the blast doors like they were day old Bantha cheese and Darklighter went back to watching the corridor.

"What were those things?" Aiton asked him.

"The Droidekaas? Heavy duty combat droids, a bit outdated but not ineffective."

He could say that again.

"These are the first I've seen since the wars." Jinn put in. Aiton turned to see that the two Jedi had finished cutting a large circular hole in the blast doors but the metal was still lambent, it would be a minute or two before it cooled enough for them to go through. "Towards the end the Mandalore were using them to augment their numbers."

"Are there likely to be more down here?"

"I don't doubt it." Jinn smiled. "But with your heavy lasers they shouldn't be a problem."

Aiton found himself grinning back. It was good to feel they weren't entirely useless after all.

'Luke, join the stormtroopers in the power core and make your way to the hanger from there.'

"Yes, Master" he responded out loud, though he knew Dai-Men couldn't hear him, then turned to Chani. "You get that?"

She nodded. "Let's go."

The stormtrooper Lieutenant was expecting them, having been alerted by more mundane means. "You can lead us to the hanger?" he asked Chani a little dubiously.

She smiled up at him. "No problem. Luke and I did the recce, we know this place." Suddenly she spun away, sabre igniting as she turned, to block an incoming blaster bolt just in time.

A split second later Luke was at her side, helping ward off the sudden barrage from the other side of the core shaft and experiencing a distinct feeling of deja vu. Behind them the stormtroopers recovered from their astonishment and joined in, returning fire.

Luke could deflect laser or blaster bolts just fine but he couldn't direct the ricochets, not yet. That would come with practice Master said but for now he had to be satisfied with hitting things at random. Still - Chani's precisely placed returns didn't seem to be doing any more good than the troopers' counter-barrage.

"They must have a shield generator!" Nentres snarled, frustrated.

"Agreed." Chani concurred calmly. "If we could get behind them -"

"I think I can arrange that." Luke grinned. Deja vu had it's uses. He borrowed a grappling line from a trooper and stood twirling it, trying to pick out a good anchor point.

"You're not serious." Nentres said disbelieving. "They'll shoot you down as you cross."

"No they won't." Luke assured him absently. He threw, gave the line a tug to see it was secure and held an arm out to Chani. "C'mon."

She hooked her lightsabre on her belt and wrapped her arms around his neck just as Leia had done all those years ago. He remembered her quick kiss 'for luck' and Chani must have picked the image out of his mind because she promptly followed suit, but this was no chaste peck on the cheek!

Those few stormtroopers who could spare the attention from the firefight hooted appreciatively. Ears burning Luke kicked off. They swung gracefully across the abyss and into a sub-hallway one level down from their attacker.

By that time he'd gotten his breath and some composure back. "What'd you do that for?"

"Just establishing my claim." Chani replied sweetly.

He didn't have the nerve to ask what she meant by that.

She glanced quickly around the little bay. "Let's take the shortcut."

Luke followed her gaze to an opening high in the wall. "Not again!"

Chani grinned wickedly. "What do you think ventilation shafts are for?"

It wasn't Mandalorians but some weird kind of droid Luke didn't recognize.

"Droidekaas!"

"What?" he looked down at his partner.

A sort of battle droid," she explained sotto voce, "you don't see them much these days. They've got shield generators."

"Then how do we stop them?"

Chani's answer was to step out of cover and address the two droids' backs. "Excuse me, but is this the way to the Ysalmi overpass?"

Huh?

The two insect-like machines wheeled around. Luke hastily stepped to her side just as they opened fire. Blaster bolts ricocheted off lightsabre blades and droid shields to score the walls around them. "It's a standoff!" he said.

"Not quite." Chani answered, and took a step forward. The droid facing her backed off to maintain maximum effective firing distance.

Enlightened Luke followed suit, as did his droid. He tossed a quick grin at Chani, maybe she wasn't crazy after all.

Step by step they edged the two droids backwards...through the portal and onto the ledge, then one followed by the other went backward into the gulf still firing as it fell.

"Ysalmi overpass?" Luke asked, watching them tumble down the shaft.

"A pedestrian way on Coruscant." Chani explained. "Just something my grandmother used to say when she wanted to draw attention to herself." She took out her comlink.

"Lieutenant? where are you?"

"One level down from you." came the answer. "We crossed while you were keeping those whatever-they-weres busy. What the hell?" that was directed off link and with a note of alarm. "Everybody back! Kurtiz, hit the doors!"

Luke saw it coming too, a fireball zooming up from the depths of the core shaft, and pulled Chani clear of the doorway and down onto the deck.

Superheated air surged over them in the instant before the safety doors slammed, containing the explosion. Luke sat up, coughing and choking on the smell of burnt wool, to beat out the sparks smouldering on his robe and hers with his hands.

"Lieutenant, are you all right down there?" Chani demanded of her comlink.

"A little singed," came the slightly shaky answer, "but otherwise okay. No criticism intended, ma-am, but those droids must have hit something important going down."

"And judging by the results I'd say the Mandalore haven't kept up their safety systems." Both she and Luke looked up as the lights flickered. "Uh-oh."

"Overload." Luke said, grimly. "It's going to blow."

"We'd better get out of here." Chani agreed.

"Master."

Dai-Men took out his comlink. "Yes, Mei-Qan."

"The main reactor's been damaged - I estimate we've got from five to fifteen minutes before it goes critical."

He came to a full stop and glared sternly down at the inoffensive comlink. "Mei-Qan Kenobi!"

"I didn't do it!" she protested, "it was a pair of droidekaas."

He closed his eyes. "Are you clear of the outer ring?"

"Yes. We've sealed the blast doors behind us - the intact ones that is." a little return dig at the Master.

"That'll buy us some time." he said. "We'll be at the hanger soon."

"Meet you there."

Dai-Men returned the comlink to his belt shaking his head. Just like 'Rila, like Teacher like Apprentice. "When we get to the hanger you and your men head directly for the Falcon." He instructed Captain Aiton. "We're running out of time."

Lando detected a shift in focus on the part of the enemy. Though now supported by a half dozen weird looking war-droids the Mandalorians were no longer trying to drive the invaders out but to get past them to their ships. He shook his head in wonder. Somehow Jinn and his crew had spooked them into retreat.

Then the main doors blew open and five brown robed forms came skirling through like autumn leaves driven by a gale. Lando had never seen a lightsabre before but had no problem recognizing the glowing bars of light in the Jedi's hands. The Mandalorians spun around and opened fire but - unbelievably - the five brown robes caught the bolts with their sabres and sent them right back into the Warriors' teeth!

"I see it but I don't believe it!" a nearby hardback gasped.

"You and me both, brother!" Lando agreed fervently.

Leia tugged impatiently at his sleeve. "C'mon, Lando! this is our chance to get Han."

"Yeah, right." Lando scrambled up and followed the Princess and Chewy away from the melee.

No doubt about it the Mandalorians had panicked. Not that Aiton blamed them. After warding off the initial volley Jinn and the girl, Kenobi, cut their way into the armored ranks, a pair of whirlwinds with lightsabres, while the other three Jedi fended the droids' fire away from the troopers.

"We can take them out with the turbos!" Aiton shouted to Naberrie over the sizzle and boom.

The Jedi shook his head. "We can't afford the time. We'll cover you to the ship."

Right. Aiton had forgotten for a moment that this whole place was set to blow at any minute. "All units this is the Captain, Pull back and make for the Falcon."

Leia led her little band straight as a crossbow bolt towards Slave 1 but Fett was on an interception course, also making for his ship. He saw them and opened fire.

Lando tackled the Princess, knowing there was no cover, that this time Fett was going to get them - then a Jedi materialized in front of them warding off the blaster bolts with his lightsabre.

"Luke!" Leia gasped with what was left of her breath.

"Luke?" Lando repeated in disbelief.

"Rowlff?" Chewy echoed, equally astonished.

But Luke it was, fielding Fett's barrage with his blade flashing at an unbelievable speed. It had been an impressive sight from across the hanger, up close it was dazzling. Lando's opinion of young Skywalker revised upward.

"Get back to the Falcon." he ordered, never taking his eyes off Fett.

"No!" Leia screamed, "Han -!"

Chewy roared his support.

"Leia, the reactor's gone critical - this place is going to go any minute.

"But -"

"If we're still here Han dies too. The carbonite won't protect him against a reactor blast!"

"We can catch Fett in space with the tractors, Princess." Lando put in urgently.

Choking back sob of frustration Leia saw sense and turned and ran for the Falcon. Chewy and Lando chasing after her.

Luke remained en-gard at their backs but Fett, seeing them retreat, ducked hastily into his ship. The thruster backwash fluttered Luke's robe and hair as Slave 1 lifted off.

Extinguishing his lightsabre he headed back to the other Jedi.

Light fixtures and wall panels exploded in showers of sparks as power surges overwhelmed their circuits. The sound of larger explosions echoed through the open hanger doors. Luke joined his four companions as the Falcon lurched into the air heading for the ceiling opening along with five or so smaller craft carrying the remaining Mandalorians.

"Find a ship." Dai-Men ordered crisply.

"See anything that looks good?" Chani asked Luke.

He scanned the remaining vessels, spotted an adapted y-wing and grinned. "Yeah, c'mon."


	9. An Imperfect Victory

A spider web of fiery lines traced themselves on the dark planetary surface as the redoubt's tunnels blew open. The hanger vomited flame and vapor and three small craft riding the wave front of the explosion: An antiquated Y-Wing, even older A-Wing - and could that really be a Nubian V-Wing? Then the first shockwaves hit the Falcon and Lando had all he could do to hold her steady.

"Luke?" the Princess called frantically into the comlink, "Luke!"

"I'm here, don't worry, Leia." Skywalker's voice came back, calm and commanding. "Lando, you concentrate on Fett - we'll handle the rest of them."

"Whatever you say, Jedi." he acknowledged, no longer unwilling to let the kid call the shots after what he'd seen below. "Chewy - "

But the Wookiee had already picked Slave-1 out of the rabble of little ships and was accelerating towards her.

Strapped into a fighter cockpit Luke's Rebel command training kicked in and he automatically took charge. The Master and other Jedi made no objection, Luke was an experienced combat leader - and the son of Anakin Skywalker.

"Okay, let's start with the big one." he continued in his Rogue Leader voice. Setting course for a discoid vessel, about half the size of the Falcon and much sleeker except for the weapons spotting its hull, obviously later additions to what had once been a yacht or official transport.

"Raj, take the starboard, Master, the port." Luke directed. "And I'll go right down her middle."

This was the first time he'd flown combat since his training. The first time he'd been able to use the Force consciously, with knowledge, rather than by instinct. He was surprised how much of a difference it made. Now he could see where the enemy fire was going to be. Had the confidence to disregard the computer in favor of his 'feelings' and could keep his emotions from getting in the way.

It was also the first time he'd flown with other Jedi. They flashed down on the Mandalorian transport in perfect formation, as if they'd flown together all their lives, and broke at precisely the right moment to make their separate attack runs. Luke had always had problems coordinating with his gunners - they were never as fast as he was - but with Chani it was like they were two halves of the same mind, seeing, sensing and reacting as one.

As Luke pulled up and began his turn he saw three of the four little ships coming to the big one's aid. But not Slave-1, he hoped that meant Lando had got her - and Han - then focused on the moment. "First things first. Concentrate on the transport."

He made a second run, this time passing under the belly of the ship, using it as a shield against its consorts. He noted, with no real surprise, that Raj was a darn good pilot. His ancient V-Wing deliberately drew the big ship's fire, then at the last moment veered out of the stream of blaster bolts so they pounded the hell out of a blocky Mandalorian fighter instead.

It was no surprise at all find his Master was equally skilled. Expertly evading an attempted inception by the two remaining little ships Dai-Men orbited the main target and Jayce - acting as his gunner - sent a couple of photons right down her drive exhaust.

Luke hastily peeled away as the ship blossomed into a cloud of radiant particles. Saw the surviving Mandalorians break and run. He'd never had much stomach for pursuing a fleeing foe but he knew this pair could not be allowed to escape to train up more of their kind and accelerated after them.

Fett wasn't a bad pilot but Lando was better, staying tight on his tail as the Bounty Hunter led them on a wild chase through the outer planets of the Abbadon System. First Fett tried to lose them in Abbadon Nine's mini-system of rings and moons. Then, when that failed, he veered into the colorful methane-ammonia clouds of the gas giant Abbadon Ten. But Lando had spent the last ten years chasing claim-jumpers and gas pirates through the clouds of Bespin - he knew all the tricks.

Flushed out Fett made a straight run out system right into the Oort cloud. The Falcon tobogganed through the cold comets and star debris, closing steadily.

Leia watched tensely as Slave-1 grew in their ports.

"Getting there.." Lando muttered, eyes on his gauges. "Okay, Chewy, now!"

The Wookiee hit the tractors and roared triumphantly as the indicator light flashed green.

"Got him!" Lando crowed.

Leia was just opening her mouth when, unbelievably, Slave-1 winked out of normal space. "What happened?"

"He jumped!" Lando reported, frantically searching his scanners.

Chewy roared an argument.

"I know it's impossible! Tell it to the computer."

"Could he have hit some kind of suicide switch?" Leia heard herself ask in an improbably calm voice.

Lando shook his head. "No. It was a jump. Don't ask me how he did it with a tractor on him. I'm sorry, Leia, we've lost him."

Chewy moaned an agonized self reproach

"It's not your fault." Lando told him sharply. "You had him. We all saw it."

"That's right." Leia put in quickly. "You both did everything possible. Fett just had one trick to many up his sleeve."

Lando gave her a concerned look over his shoulder. Royal control didn't fool him for a minute. He could see right through the calm princess to the despairing woman beneath. "We haven't lost yet, Leia. We still know where Fett's going."

"Tatooine." she smiled shakily, trying to reassure him and Chewy both.

"Right. Back to plan A. No problem."

Lando was right. They would get Han back - she'd just have to be patient a little longer that was all. Leia let out a careful breath, willing her insides to unknot. It was going to be all right. It was. Luke had said so.

Making her way back to the main cabin she was stopped in her tracks by the sight of massed white armor. She had completely forgotten about the Imperials.

Captain Aiton, helmet off, pushed his way towards her. "Is this ship going to hold still for a while now?"

She flushed, distracted from her grief by embarrassment. "Yes. I apologize for the ride, we were trying to catch one of the Mandalorians. Are your men all right?"

"Luckily we're packed to tight to rattle." He replied. "We've got some wounded from the fight though, is there a sickbay on this - uh -"

"Tub." she finished for him. Good thing Han wasn't hearing this. "Her looks are not the Falcon's strong suit."

"I noticed."

As she led the way to the freighter's tiny aid station he said quietly. "You didn't get your man back?"

So he'd figured that much out. "No." she choked, fighting back tears.

"I'm sorry, Princess."

"It's not over yet." She said firmly. "We'll get him." They would. She could feel it.

It wasn't until after they'd landed and the troopers had marched off that Aiton calling her 'Princess' registered. But she promptly forgot it again as Luke arrived for a hasty council of war.

"Chewy and I'll head back to Tatooine." Lando told them.

Luke nodded. "You won't have any problems establishing yourself in Jabba's court?"

"Not a bit. He's always looking for more muscle."

Chewy, fairly well recovered now there was a promise of further action, growled a mocking comment.

"Yeah but Jabba knows you." Lando countered.

"And Fett knows you." Leia pointed out.

The gambler shook his head. "He'll never get a good look at me, I'll see to that, Princess. Besides I'll be an old hand by the time he shows up."

"But he's got a head start!"

"He won't go straight to Tatooine." Lando assured her. "Not after this business. He'll lie low a while, let the trail cool."

She looked at Luke. He nodded agreement. "Sounds right. Send for me as soon as he arrives."

"You got it."

Dai-Men smiled faintly as he scrolled through a draft of Aiton's report. "Have you ever considered a career in fiction writing, Captain?"

"Got to make things palatable for the brass." the other shrugged.

The Captain's office was barely big enough to hold them all; Aiton sat behind his desk, his Lieutenant at his side. The Master, Mei-Qan and Leia occupied the three guest chairs. Luke, Raj and Jayce stood or leaned where they could, taking up almost all the floor space.

"A shoot out between bounty hunter." Jayce said disapprovingly. "I'm not sure I like being called a bounty hunter."

"Never satisfied are you?" Mei-Qan asked, twisting her neck to look up at him. "Pod-racer, bounty hunter, nothing suits you. What do you want to be called?"

"A Jedi Knight." He replied.

"That wouldn't be wise just yet." The Master said, handing the reader back to Aiton. "Someday."

"I'm just glad you showed up when you did." the Captain told him. "We wouldn't have stood a chance against those guys alone. Thank you, Master Jinn - and you too, your Highness."

"You're welcome." she said. It took a few seconds for the other shoe to drop. "You know who I am? You recognized me?" Oddly enough she didn't feel at all alarmed, just surprised.

Nentres grinned. "Practically the whole command did."

"There weren't many young and pretty Imperial Senators." Aiton explained. "Your image was very popular with the troops."

"Especially the one in that low cut gown, leaning forward." Nentres added.

Leia winced. She remembered that shot. She'd meant to convey intensity and commitment but all anybody had seen was her cleavage.

"I think I know the dress." Luke grinned.

She turned to glare at him but he just kept grinning until she finally smiled back.

"I'm glad Lando isn't here. He'd never let me live this down. Leia Organa pin-up girl of the Imperial Star Fleet!"

"Not just the Imperials." Luke admitted. "I've run across a few holos in Alliance barracks too."

"Oh great!" she groaned. "I'm never going to be able to take an inspection again without wondering what they've hidden away in their lockers."

"Try and take it as a compliment." Mei-Qan advised.

"I assure you our admiration is very respectful." Aiton soothed.

"For the most part." Nentres added.

"I just glad you were more interested in stopping the Mandalorians than turning us in." Leia told Aiton.

He turned serious. "The destruction of Alderaan opened a lot of eyes, Princess." He grimaced. "But if you talk to much you end up posted somewhere like Had Abbadon. And your family -"

"I know." She interrupted. "I've heard about the special 'schools' and special 'housing' for Fleet dependants."

"Then you understand why my men and I can't join you. Still, if there's ever anything we can do for the Alliance on Had Abbadon, we owe you one, Princess."

"I do understand." she assured him. "And thank you."

Chani and Raj left together in the latter's battered old caravel painted with gypsy signs, going back some unfinished business. But not before Chani had given Luke a very thorough good-bye kiss right in front of Leia, then tossed the gently steaming Princess a grin and a "Don't be greedy." before running after her partner.

Luke, still slightly lambent about the ears, added an apologetic shrug and quickly escaped to the Jinx's cockpit. The Master and Jayce looked up from their pre-flight checks to give him matched looks of mild inquiry.

"Being a Jedi doesn't help much with women does it?" he asked ruefully.

Jayce grinned broadly. "Not in the least."

"Mei-Qan was subjected to a bad influence during her training." Dai-Men explained kindly.

"I'm going to tell Kensai Anuril you said that." Jayce warned.

"Go right ahead. I've said as much to her more than once."

Luke wedged himself into a corner for take off and the jump to hyperspace. Uncomfortable but better than going back to the main cabin and facing Leia.

After the jump Jayce murmured something about seeing how their passenger was doing and vacated the copilot's-pilot's chair.

Luke fell into it gratefully. Hopefully Leia would have cooled off by the time they reached the Fleet. "We were lucky to find somebody like Aiton in command on Had Abbadon." he observed, for the sake of something to say.

Dai-Men gave him a look of mild exasperation. "There's no such thing as luck, young Padawan." he scolded. "Nothing happens by chance. It was the Force that brought Captain Aiton to Had Abaddon, just as it brought us. Trust in the Force,

Luke, and it will show you the way to accomplish anything."

Ben had said the same thing, and Yoda too, in slightly different words. But for the first time the truth of it sank home. It was as if the whole universe changed; suddenly everything that'd seemed random and meaningless stood revealed as part of a great unifying pattern working towards the single goal of balance and harmony.

That's what it meant to be mindful of the Living Force! to be aware of how the patterns intersected in the moment and of the possibilities they offered. He didn't have to worry about how to save Han. All he had to do was go to Tatooine and a way would present itself.

"Trust in the Force." he whispered dazzled. He wanted to laugh at himself, or cry. How could he have failed to see it all this time? It was so simple; just let go of fear, stop struggling, stop trying to control and feel the guidance of the Force.

Dai-Men turned away to hide his smile. But there was a trace of sadness in it. Now that Luke had grasped the heart of being a Jedi, he wouldn't be needing his Padawan Master much longer. Soon their paths would diverge again - and Luke's promised to be a very hard one indeed.


	10. Back With The Fleet

Dazzled by his new insight Luke was barely conscious of the rest of the trip, not returning to full awareness until Wedge hailed him as they crossed the Command ship's hanger bay.

"Hey, Luke, long time no see." the pilot fell into step beside his C.O. with a polite nod to the Princess and a curious glance at Jayce and the Master before continuing: "Look, boss, it's not that we mind you taking a little leave every now and again but this just disappearing on us is getting kind of old."

"I'm sorry." It sounded pretty lame, in fact it was lame. "I'm going to resign my commission, or at least my command of Rogue Squadron." Luke said abruptly.

"Huh?" Wedge stared at him, appalled. "Hey, Luke, I didn't mean -"

"That's not necessary, Luke." Leia cut in. "Obi-Wan was a general you know. There's no reason why you can't be both an Alliance officer and a Jedi Knight." she looked to the Master for support.

"That is for Luke to decide." Dai-Men said quietly.

He had decided. "Wedge is right, I've been neglecting my duty to the squadron and that's not going to change any time soon." Rescuing Han was first priority but after that he had to return to Dagobah, as he'd promised, to finish the training and get a straight answer to a straight question. What he'd do then depended on what that answer was.

"Jedi Knight?" Wedge was saying in bewilderment. "Luke what's going on here?"

"It's kind of a long story." he answered ruefully.

He told it to the whole squadron, pilots, gunners, ground crew and all, in the big briefing room later that day. They already knew about Ben - General Kenobi - and that his father had been a Jedi Knight. Even about Bespin, though not all of it. Luke told them the rest; about Yoda and Master Dai-Men and his training.

The revelation was received in slightly stunned silence. To these youngsters the Jedi were a legend of the Old Republic. The idea of somebody they knew, their own commander, becoming one seemed unreal. Luke didn't tell them he intended to resign. Wedge had begged him not to and Luke realized he was right. The squadron had enough to absorb, leave the rest for another time.

"Don't rush into anything." Wedge said afterwards. "Think it over a while."

Luke shook his head a little sadly. All the time in the world wasn't going to change what had to be. "I must follow my destiny, Wedge, and it's leading me away from the squadron." And away from everything he'd known and been.

'I'm even talking like a Jedi!' he thought suddenly, and realized the change he'd foreseen when the Master demanded his commitment to the Way had begun. He'd seen it reflected in the people around him: In Leia's new faith in him and Lando's surprising deference. And now in Wedge's startled look.

"I had an aunt who was a Jedi." his second offered, startling him in turn. "My father's cousin really but we always called her 'Aunt Jezra'. She died in the Purge of course - I guess that's one of the reasons I ended up a Rebel."

"I'm sorry."

Wedge shrugged, embarrassed. "I never knew her - she'd be old enough to be my mother if she'd lived. Hit my great aunt and uncle pretty hard though. She was only fifteen."

Jayce gave Luke a new sparring partner, one a little closer to his skill level than the Master. Not that he did any better against him. "A real Jedi can still wipe the floor with me, even with one hand tied behind his back." Luke remarked ruefully at the end of one session.

Jayce curled his lips and a long red eyebrow. His arm wasn't literally tied behind his back of course, just immobilized in a healing harness while the nerves regenerated. "I've got a dozen years practice on you." he reminded Luke. "Besides you're going easy on me, afraid of hurting me accidentally."

Luke flushed. It was true, Jedi or no Jayce was still a wounded man and he just couldn't bring himself to go all out against him.

"And you might at that." the other continued. "You did okay against the Mandalore."

"I didn't take on three at once." Luke pointed out in turn.

Jayce grimaced. "That wasn't by choice I promise you! That's Master's style not mine."

"I'll never be that good." Luke said with conviction.

"Nor I." Jayce agreed promptly. "Master is the last and greatest of a long line of powerful Jedi sword masters. Mei-Qan may equal him someday - but then she is the granddaughter of Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"What is he waiting for?" Luke heard himself ask out of nowhere. 'Where'd that come from?' but it was true. Master was waiting - but for what?

"No idea." Jayce replied, unsurprised. "He may not know himself yet. Or maybe he's just not ready to share." an ironic sideways smile. "Our Master has a secretive streak a parsec wide."

That surprised Luke. He'd always considered Dai-Men exceptionally forthcoming - as compared to Ben and Yoda.

"And devious with it." Jayce continued, shaking his head.

"I've noticed a - creative use of language." Luke admitted, and got a laugh.

"That's certainly one way of putting it. Master never tells an out and out lie or breaks a promise but he's a genius at finding loopholes. Be mindful of his exact words - and chose your own carefully!"

"You make it sound like he can't be trusted." Luke said uneasily.

"Master can be trusted to follow the will of the Force, against all reason, in spite of all obstacles and in defiance of all dangers." Jayce replied grimly. "Makes him scary as hell to work with. His father was just the same, or so Master Hamilcar used to say. It got Qui-Gon killed in the end and I'm afraid someday it'll kill Dai-Men too."

Leia entered the communications center, saw Sylkie working at a nearby station and very nearly ducked out again. The Erewhon had pitched a fit when she heard what had happened on Had Abbadon. She'd stormed furiously and nearly incoherently at Dai-Men, who'd taken it with the braced calm of a man accustomed to such outbreaks, and at the Princess too before bursting into floods of tears and locking herself in her cabin.

'Don't be such a coward.' Leia told herself sternly, squared her shoulders and marched over to the Erewhon. "Sylkie." the other looked up with red rimmed eyes. "I'm sorry, really I am."

"It's not your fault, Princess." she answered resignedly. "I shouldn't have blamed you. It was Dai-Men - as usual."

"He's - uh - misled you before?"

The wide, nearly lipless mouth curled up in a wan smile. "All the time. He's very good at it. He doesn't lie mind, just leaves out a few salient facts." the mouth curled down. "And I never seem to ask the right questions."

"He doesn't want to worry you." Leia comforted.

Sylkie shook her head. "He doesn't want to listen to me yell at him twice. Though I might just as well be shouting at a rock for all the good it does."

"He's a Jedi Knight." Leia offered gently. "He has a duty. And he can certainly take care of himself!"

The Erewhon shook her head again fiercely. "You don't know - you can't even imagine - the crazy things he's done! I know we're nothing but trouble for him, Xhosa's always getting stuck in things and I talk too much, but as long as he has us to look after he's got to be a little cautious. Let him go off on his own and he'll get himself killed, I know he will!" and she angrily blotted her overflowing eyes with the end of her sari.

"From what I've seen Dai-Men Jinn would take an awful lot of killing." Leia answered. "In fact I don't think anybody short of the Emperor himself could manage it."

"He said once he'd never risk facing the Emperor." Sylkie admitted sniffling.

"Well there you are," Leia grinned bracingly. "He's safe then isn't he?" and got a reluctant, watery smile in return.

She walked the Master's small companion back to her quarters. They found Dai-Men talking with his two apprentices in the lounge. The Master, apparently sensing a change in atmosphere, got up and came over to them dropping on one knee to go eye to eye with Sylkie.

"Am I forgiven then?"

"As always." the Erewhon said resignedly.

He smiled gently. "You've said yourself you'd rather be angry afterwards than have to worry beforehand."

"But I do worry." she told him. "All the time."

"Don't. Trust in the Force, Little One, it guides and guards us all."

"Very comforting!" was the scornful reply. "And where was the Force when all the other Jedi died?"

Leia winced and Sylkie bit her lip instantly regretful.

"Its ways are not always easy to understand." the Master conceded, serenity unruffled, then reminded her as he rose, "You don't like it when I try to protect you and Xhosa."

"That's different, we don't go looking for trouble!" Sylkie fired back and flounced off to her room, honor satisfied.

"She's got you there." Jayce grinned as the door shut behind her.

The Master gave him a that-will-do look then turned to Leia. "Won't you join us, your Highness?"

"Thank you." she sat down beside Luke on the sofa and Dai-Men resumed the chair opposite. "There is something I've been meaning to ask you, Master; I've heard you mention the 'Living' and the 'Unifying' Force several times now and I don't understand, I always thought there was just one Force?"

"There is but it has more than one aspect." the Master explained. "The Unifying Force is the great pattern that unites past and future."

Luke, listening, nodded involuntarily remembering his moment of enlightenment aboard the Jinx.

"The Living Force concerns itself with the moment, with the smaller patterns of the present." Dai-Men continued. "Jedi tend to lean towards one aspect or the other." he smiled at Jayce. "Followers of the Unifying Force are very focused on their path. Sometimes too much so, blinding themselves to alternatives."

"Living Force Jedi, on the other hand, tend to be distractible, to diffuse their focus and take on too many projects at once." Jayce responded pointedly.

"Both have their strengths and weaknesses," the Master agreed, amused, "and serve the Force in their different ways." he turned to Luke. "It's important to be open to both aspects of the Force even if you find yourself favoring one above the other."

"You're a Living Force Jedi." Luke said.

Dai-Men nodded. "As was my father before me." he sighed. "Our way was not always respected by the Order. We were often considered irresponsible, even dangerous, because we acted on the impulse of the moment."

"That's Luke all over." Leia declared. "Forward planning is not his strong suit!"

"Hey, things always worked out in the end didn't they?" he shot back.

"Spoken like a true follower of the Living Force." Jayce said drily.

'He's right.' Luke thought, not really surprised. 'I guess that's why I find Dai-Men so much easier to understand than Yoda.'

Leia's comlink beeped for attention. "Your Highness? you're needed in the small conference room, ma'am, for an emergency council session."

"Why?" she asked apprehensively. "What's happened?"

"There's been a miners' revolt on Kessel, Princess. They're asking for Alliance support."

Luke looked at his Master and caught the slight relaxation, not quite a sigh. 'That's it, that's what he's been waiting for.' He glanced questioningly at Jayce who gave an almost imperceptible shrug in reply, evidently knowing no more than Luke about what their Master was up to.

"We'll accompany you if we may, Princess." Dai-Men said rising with her. "I think I can clarify matters."

"Certainly, Master Jinn." she responded, slightly puzzled.


	11. A New Mission

The other councilors were already assembled in the little conference room when Leia arrived with her companions. Three of the civilians represented Rebel systems; Mon Mothma of Chandrilla, Char Borres of Ganita Cluster and Nyo-Wan Genbu of the Ancient Core planet of Ophuchi. The three military officers represented the various branches of the Rebel force; Admiral Ackbar, commander of the Fleet, General Colton commander of the ground forces and General Madine of Intelligence. And sitting next to him, Jon Gordun, the unobtrusive Human who headed the Bothan spy network.

Mon Mothma gave the Princess a startled and disapproving look as the Master, Jayce and Luke formed a triangle at the foot of the conference table and Leia took her seat. Then the chief councilor's expression changed; eyes widening and lips parting slightly as she stared at Dai-Men.

"Jedi Jinn?"

Leia shot a startled look at her superior as the Master bowed, smiling mostly with his eyes. "Senator."

"Jedi?" Ackbar croaked questioningly. "The Jedi were destroyed by the Emperor."

"Not quite all of us." Dai-Men answered calmly. "There is myself," he nodded to his left; "Jayce Darklighter," then to his right, "Luke Skywalker, And the two I left on Kessel."

"So you're responsible for this revolt?" Madine said, leaning foreward.

"My colleagues are." the Master corrected. "May I see the message you received?

"Of course." Mon Mothma nodded to an aid and a holographic image formed on the table, facing the three Jedi.

It was staticy with a tendency to blur and double but clear enough to see the sender was a tall, athletic woman with short brown hair dressed in Jedi tunic and breeches.

"This is Jezra Antilles speaking for the miners of Kessel." she introduced herself. "We have successfully risen against the Imperial managers and secured control of the mines. But we cannot hold out without assistance . We need supplies and weapons -" the image turned her head as though listening to somebody out of picture and seemed to smile. "And we can offer payment in Spice. The Empire has refused the governor reinforcements so a relief force will face only the usual defenses. The Smuggler's Run should be passable. The Spice is the source of much of the Emperor's wealth depriving him of it can only help your cause. Kessel out."

The image broke up and vanished.

"I volunteer Rogue squadron for the mission." Luke said promptly.

"Thank you, Commander, but we haven't decided if there's going to be a mission yet." General Colton snapped. To Mon Mothma, "I don't like it, we'd be sending our people right into one of the Empire's most heavily guarded strongholds. How do we know this message is genuine?"

"I can vouch for Jedi Antilles." Dai-Men said calmly.

"And I vouch for Jedi Jinn." Mon Mothma added quickly, soft voice firm and a hint of unaccustomed color in her pale face.

If Leia didn't know better she'd have sworn the Chief Councilor was blushing.

"If there are still Jedi living why haven't they made themselves known to us before this?" Ackbar wanted to know. "Why haven't they joined us."

"After Condawn?" Nyo-Wan asked quietly.

Leia felt her own cheeks burn and gripped the arms of her chair tightly. Her fellow councilors registered similar discomfort. The Jedi themselves seemed unmoved though she thought she caught of flicker of uncertainty from Luke, as if he hadn't quite got the reference.

"She's right." Madine said at last breaking the embarrassed silence. "Cutting off the Emperor's Spice revenues would go a long way towards destabilizing his regime."

"Which makes it well worth doing." Leia agreed.

"We'll only be risking one squadron." Luke pointed out quietly.

"Our best squadron." said Ackbar.

"It will take the best to make the Kessel Run." said the Master.

Mon Mothma dismissed the three Jedi while the council debated. "What was all that about Condawn?" Luke asked as they settled themselves on chairs in the anteroom. He'd heard of the battle, the last stand of an abortive Jedi rebellion at the beginning of the Imperial era, but had no idea why its name should get such a reaction out of the council.

"When the Jedi realized the Emperor was a Sith Lord we tried to raise the people against him." Dai-Men explained. "But only three systems joined us; Ophuchi, Aquilae and Andikaar. The rest, including Ganita Cluster, Chandrilla and Alderaan, sided with the Empire and sent ships and men against us at Condawn."

"Alderaan sided with the Empire?" Luke asked incredulously.

"At the time they thought it was the right thing to do." the Master spread his hands. "To most of the Galaxy the Sith were an ancient legend. We had no proof, I can't blame the worlds for not believing us."

'That's why they all looked so guilty.' Luke thought. 'If they'd backed the Jedi twenty years ago they'd have ended the Empire then - And Alderaan would never have been destroyed. Poor Leia!'

"Were you there?" he asked his Master.

"Yes." Dai-Men answered, in a tone that made it clear this was one story he wasn't prepared to tell.

Luke shifted ground. "Why was Ophuchi different?"

"It's the origin world of the Jedi." was the matter-of-fact answer.

Luke wondered why he was so surprised. The Order had to have come from somewhere after all. "Ben - Obi-Wan - was Ophuchian." he said, remembering something Nyo-Wan had once told him.

"So am I, by derivation." said the Master. "Though my family's been Jedi for six generations now."

"What about Aquilae?" Luke knew the name. The system was a member of the Alliance but because of its location, on the opposite side of the Core, its White Legions operated independently of the Main Fleet.

"The Aquilar have always had a great esteem for the Jedi." Dai-Men answered.

"They think we're hero-saints." Jayce put in ironically.

But the Master shook his head. "That's an exaggeration. Their religious beliefs simply incline them to have a greater respect and understanding of the Way than is common."

"And Andikaar?" that name wasn't familiar.

"Is the homeworld of Altor Starrider." Dai-Men answered, as if that explained everything.

"Who?"

The other two Jedi stared at him incredulously. Luke shrugged, embarrassed. "I'm not awfully good at history."

"Altor Starrider led the first war against the Sith." Dai-Men told him. "I'm surprised Yoda or Obi-Wan never mentioned him?"

"We had a lot of ground to cover." Luke half apologized. "Uh, did you say first war?"

"It's quite a long story." the Master demurred.

"I think we'll have time." Jayce said dryly, glancing at the conference room door.

Dai-Men smiled faintly. "I think you're right. Very well -" and began.

It was fascinating. The first Sith Lord had been a fallen Jedi, a great Master who'd studied too deeply the ways of the Dark Side and been devoured. His horrified friends and colleagues hadn't been able to bring themselves to destroy him, clinging to the hope they could somehow turn him back. But instead he escaped from his prison and founded the Sith Order, dedicated to universal domination and the destruction of the Jedi. The early Sith had been few but terribly powerful gathering worlds under their rule with frightening ease. It had seemed the Republic was doomed and its Jedi defenders with it.

Altor Starrider had been an untried apprentice Jedi on what was then a remote colony world but he'd succeeded where those older and stronger had failed, he kept the Sith from taking Andikaar. His Rangers, warriors trained in the Jedi arts, had proved a match for the Siths' Dark Servants and Altor himself had killed their leader.

Abruptly Luke realized he had heard this story before - years ago as a child. He could almost see himself sitting beside Chani on the sandy floor of Ben's hut listening raptly as his first Teacher told it in almost the same words.

The war had lasted for generations. Master Altor, like Darth Sith, had lived far beyond the normal human span but he hadn't survived to see the end. He fathered nine sons, by three different wives, only to see the six eldest die before him. It was Loran, the seventh son, who succeeded him. Loran who led a force of Jedi and Rangers into the Sith's last citadel and struck down the incredibly aged Master of the Order, ending the first war.

Luke shivered. Ben's description of that final battle had given him nightmares for a week, Uncle Owen had been furious. But it wasn't the memory of those nightmares or the grisly details of the story that made him shiver now but sudden understanding.

The parallel between Altor Starrider and what little Luke knew about his father were blindingly obvious. Both had been exceptionally powerful Jedi arising on backwater worlds, both born to defeat the Sith. But his father was dead - or worse - and Yoda, Ben, and even Dai-Men expected him to step into Anakin's place as Loran had stepped into Altor's.

'I can't do it!' he thought in a moment of blinding panic. 'I can't destroy the Emperor. Maybe father was special but I'm not.'

The Master looked at him steadily, kindly but quite inexorably. 'All things are possible with the Force.' Luke heard him say in mind voice, or perhaps just in his memory. 'Trust in it and it will show you the way.'

The panic ebbed, breathing slowed, frantically pounding heart calmed. 'Lifting an X-Wing is no harder than lifting a rock.' he reminded himself. 'I don't have to be special, the Force will guide me.'

Jayce was watching him too, with as much sympathy a that ironic, raptor sharp face was capable of showing. So he knew too, probably they all did. Luke wondered what Chani thought of it.

"Obviously that wasn't the end." he said aloud.

His Master gave him an approving smile and continued. He had time to outline the second and third Sith Wars and explain why there were never more than two Sithlords at a time before the conference room door finally opened.

Leia watched the three Jedi come in and arrange themselves at the foot of the conference table. The Master and Jayce in traditional robes, Luke in Alliance uniform but wearing the same serene expression free from either anticipation or concern. Nor did he betray any sign of relief when Mon Mothma told him his offer of Rogue Squadron was accepted but just bowed acknowledgment.

"Master Jinn," she continued, Leia had brought her up to date on Dai-Men's current status. "You understand we have little to spare but we will send what we can to your allies on Kessel."

It was the Master's turn to bow. "Thank you, senator."

It was crystal clear, at least to Leia, that Mon Mothma had had a more than professional respect for Master Jinn all those years ago. Not that she blamed her! Leia tried to imagine Dai-Men at twenty with results that made even her heart beat faster. No she didn't blame Mon Mothma at all.

"It is a very small reparation for the betrayal at Condawn." she was saying.

"You did as you thought was right." Dai-Men answered gently. "You just didn't have all the facts."

"You mean we refused to believe them." Mon Mothma responded almost harshly. "I - we - failed in faith. We should have trusted the Jedi."

"The Emperor is a master of lies. We too were deceived by him for far too long." he consoled.

"And we have all paid the price." she said.

Leia bit the inside of her lip, fighting to maintain her councilor's face. Her father and the other veterans of Alderaan had never forgiven themselves for their part in the slaughter at Condawn. Alderaan had given up her armaments to avoid ever again using them in a wrong cause - and left herself easy prey for the Death Star. They had paid the highest price of all for trusting in the Emperor.

Sylkie reacted violently to the news of this new mission. "Going away again!" she said outraged, ready to storm.

"K-k-k-kkkkkkk-k-ruk! Said 'we'." Xhosa interrupted, taking the wind out of her sails.

She looked at him uncertainly, then up at the Master.

He smiled down at her. "I'm going to need my crew - if you'll come."

Wedge welcomed the new assignment with enthusiasm. He was sick to death of inventing make-work to keep the squadron sharp and maybe some action would straighten Luke out too, make him give up this notion of resigning. Still Wedge was somewhat taken aback when the Boss told him just what the mission was. After the Death Star no target could intimidate him but even he had to admit Kessel was a tough one.

The Spice planet was defended by a formidable maze of natural and man-made hazards including an asteroid belt, mine fields, plasma storms, hyperspace traps, at least two singularities and automated battle satellites. Still if smugglers could do it so could Rogue Squadron. But as for the transport they were supposed to escort...! It was an ancient, ungainly, bulbous thing, far to large for the hangers but connected to the capital ship by passenger tube.

"Luke there's no way that behemoth is going to make it through the Run." he protested peering at her through a port.

"She already has, three times." a deep, soft voice countered.

They turned to see the tall, bearded Jedi watching them, eyes alight with amusement. "The Jinx is far faster and more maneuverable than she looks."

"Like the Falcon." Luke reminded his second.

"But it's so - big!" Wedge said helplessly.

"An advantage." the Master assured him, stepping to the port for an affectionate look at his unappetizing vessel. "Not only will she carry the supplies but we'll have room for at least six standard fighters."

"I thought we'd take Y-Wings instead of our usual ships," Luke put in, "for the extra firepower."

"And to keep the kids from splashing themselves on a rock or mine." Wedge guessed. Some of those 'kids' were actually older than the two of them but not in flight time which was what counted.

Luke grinned a little. "Yeah," he agreed, "but that's not the way I'm going to put it at the briefing."

'Course not. The smarter ones might figure it out for themselves but there was no need to rub their noses in it. Wedge snuck a cautious look at the Master. Damn. A real, live Jedi Knight complete with brown robe and lightsabre. Very tall and very still, hands tucked into his sleeves, and surrounded by an almost tangible aura of serenity.

"This is gonna be one interesting trip." he muttered to himself.


	12. The Jinx

Luke followed the Master down the tube linking the Jinx to the Fleet Command ship and past a file of Rebel troopers pushing empty cargo sledges in the other direction. They emerged into a spacious loading bay. A constant stream of Rebel troopers entered through another port with loaded sledges. Two meter tall pinheaded utility droids took off the supplies and placed the containers on flatbed cars running along a rail that looped through the compartment. Sylkie presided over operations from a tall stool with an electronic manifest in one tiny hand and a silver chromed protocol droid at her side. Suddenly a cargo loader stumbled and dropped the container it was carrying heavily onto a flatbed.

"Hey, careful there!" the Erewhon cried.

The droid turned toward her and emitted a stream of sharp bleeps.

"8D16 says he is very sorry and it won't happen again." the protocol droid interpreted in a mellifluous feminine voice.

The Sylkie gave her aide a look of open skepticism and Luke silently agreed with her, If that was an apology he was a Jawa.

"Sylkie is our cargo officer." Dai-Men explained.

"On the rare occasions we have a cargo." she grumbled. "Much less get paid for it!"

"Now, Sylkie, we had a paying charter just last month. We can't have run out of credits quite yet - and we'll get a load of Spice out of this trip."

"If we survive it!" she snapped.

"You wanted to come." He shot back and steered Luke through a hatchway.

The cargo section of the Jinx consisted of three open decks of stacked hexagonal holds, each large enough to dock the Falcon and maybe a couple of X-wings to boot, held in a web of bare metal struts and beams. Grilled catwalks ran from prow to stern and cage-like lifts linked the levels. Loaded flatbeds trundled along rails on their way to the holds.

Luke followed the Master sternward. "You really carry cargo?"

Dai-Men gave him a slidelong look from under slightly arched brows. "That's how I make my living. I'm not a desert hermit, Luke, I need credit to run the Jinx."

"Yeah - but Spice smuggling?"

"Spice has licit uses. I don't sell to the likes of Jabba the Hutt."

A massive machine casing dotted with circuit boards caught Luke's eye and he stopped for a better look, then turned to stare at his master in astonishment. "An Ion turbine?"

"Part of the Jinx's starboard manoeuvring engine." Dai-Men explained and smiled down at him, "We've made a few modifications over the years."

Luke tried to hide his skepticism. It would take a lot of modifications to make this behemoth combat worthy. He reminded himself to have faith.

The Master, reading his Padawan's mind with his usual accuracy, hid a smile.

A tiny personnel lift, barely big enough for the two of them, gave onto a gantry overlooking a hanger bay almost as big as the one on the flagship. The aged A-Wing from Had Abaddon was parked at the far end between an Imperial Shuttle - and could that be a TIE fighter?

Luke blinked, took another look. Not just a Tie but one of the Empire's elite X-1 fighters with hyperdrive and cruiser rated shielding. He stared incredulously up at his Master. "Where -?"

"Hok system. It's a long story."

"I'll bet!"

A green R-2 unit was plugged into the hanger control's main console. The red chromed 3PO droid sitting next to it stood up as they entered.

"Artoo-Deenine, Jay Threepio, this is Jedi Skywalker."

Jedi Skywalker! It gave Luke a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, like the first time somebody had called him 'commander'.

"Are we ready to bring the Y-wings onboard?" Dai-Men continued.

"All set, Master." Jay Threepio had an Outer Rim twang quite unlike Cee Threepio's fussy Core Worlds' accent. The R-2 unit bleeped briskly. "Engaging containment field and opening outer doors, now." his counterpart translated.

"Rogue Leader to Rogue Two," Luke said into his comlink, "bring them on in, Wedge."

The six Y-wings fit easily with a bit to spare. Climbing down the gantry ladder to the hanger floor Luke found his second, helmet under arm, staring at the TIE.

"That can't be an X-1!" Wedge exclaimed.

"Sure looks like one to me." Luke answered.

"How'd he get it?"

Luke shrugged. "No idea. Master says it's a long story."

By now the other pilots had gathered round. "You think he'd mind if I had a look?" Dix wanted to know, fingers working as if already taking system boards apart.

"Just be sure to put it back together again." Luke warned.

"'Course I will....wouldn't mind a look at that A-wing either..." he moved towards the ships as if drawn by some magnetic force.

"Keep an eye on him, Cind." Wedge ordered.

Dix's wingmate grinned and hurried after the obsessed mechanic.

"I guess we'll camp in here with the ships." Wedge continued to Luke.

"If you like." the pilots jumped and stared at Dai-Men, who'd somehow magically materialized among them. "But I think you'll find the living quarters more comfortable."

Luke laughed. "Master, there's no way we're going to fit twelve pilots into those little cabins."

Dai-Men looked at him in mild surprise. "I didn't mean the flight deck. The Jinx was a Neimoidian trader the crew quarters are scaled for the Drones who worked the ship. The Merchants' quarters are rather larger.

His Master, Luke reflected, had a genius for understatement. The elevator doors opened onto a compartment easily twice the size of the entire flight deck with gracefully vaulted ceiling and panoramic ports on either side. It was empty except for a sculpture made up of gently rotating interlocking rings in the center of the deck which was covered by a springy gray, glistening matting.

"We use this as a training room." Dai-Men explained and led them through a pair of double doors. "This is the main hold."

It was as large as the first compartment and fitted out with a galley, banks of storage lockers and a long table surrounded by mismatched chairs. A sunken area in a corner looked to be a holo theatre.

Yet another pair of doors led to a wide corridor with more doors, two to a side, opening off it. The Master opened the first on the left and led them into a cabin about a third the size of the main hold with the ubiquitous panoramic ports on one wall and a workbench against another. It was simply furnished with two tables, four chairs, and four computer terminals. Two sleeping cabins opened off it, each with two bunks and two lockers. A fourth room was sandwiched between them. Smaller with walls, ceiling and floor of a uniform dark gray and a single large port. This room was furnished only with a strip of matting and a low table. It took Luke a moment to recognize it as a meditation room, these quarters had been designed for Jedi. But they'd do fine for Rogue squadron.

"I thought you said you'd traveled on this ship before." Wedge whispered in his ear.

"I have but I never saw any of this." Luke answered, shooting a reproachful look at his Master.

Dai-Men returned it, the picture of innocence. "There was no need. We usually spend short jumps entirely on the flight deck."

It took a some time to move everybody up from the hanger. Dix had to be forcibly dragged away from the TIE. Wes, Alph and Wald managed to lose themselves in the cargo levels. And half the squadron kept running back down for things they'd forgotten but finally everybody was secure in their new quarters leaving Luke and Wedge free to go looking for the Master, trailed by Artoo Detoo.

The first place they looked was his quarters. The main room was furnished like the others but littered with strange artifacts and bits of disassembled machinery. Luke, remembering Ben's immaculate but equally cluttered hermitage, wondered if all Jedi Masters were packrats by nature.

The doors of the two sleeping cabins stood open. One spartanly bare, the other luxurious with silk hangings, fluffy cushions and fur throws. It wasn't hard to guess who that cabin belonged to. Xhosa, Luke recalled, had fitted out a supply hold on B deck for himself. Presumably even these quarters seemed a little cramped to the three meter tall insectoid.

After a minute's hesitation Luke knocked at the closed door of the meditation room. There was no answer but he gave in to curiousity and opened it anyway.

Dai-Men's table held two lightsabres, a dried flower, a metal jar with a gold seal on the lid, three pieces of broken crystal and a massive gemstone ring, far to large for a human hand. Luke sensed each object had a meaning - and no doubt a long story attached to it.

Returning to the main room he found Wedge and Artoo had been joined by the silver protocol droid. "Jedi Skywalker? I am TC-20, interspecies etiquette and protocol, at your service. Master Jinn requests your presence, and that of Lieutenant Antilles, on the command bridge."

After passing through the main hold, the training room and yet another pair of double doors Luke found himself facing a ninety degree arc of convex ports with the tall, rounded backs of four throne like chairs silhouetted against them.

"Ah, there you are."

He turned to see Jayce working at the consoles covering the back wall. "I see what you mean about Master keeping things to himself!"

Thin lips curled. "The Jinx is the least of it."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I used to like surprises." and followed Teecee Twenty forward.

The 'thrones' turned out to be control chairs, their wide arms jeweled with switches and buttons and glittering indicator lights. Dai-Men was seated in the center left with Sylkie curled up in the chair beyond him. He glanced up. "Have a seat.

The chairs had been scaled for beings the Master's height giving Luke the choice of perching on the edge or letting his feet dangle. He elected to follow Sylkie's example and sit cross legged. Wedge chose to stand, leaning against the back of Luke's chair.

The four thrones overlooked a curving work pit. Xhosa was stretched out prone on a long couch, his four hands tapping busily away on three consoles at once. Jay Threepio sat at another station with Artoo Deenine beside him. Artoo Detoo bleeped excitedly at the sight of the other astro-droid and whisked down the access ramp to join him. The two of them were instantly whistling and chirping away like old friends.

Luke grinned and turned his attention to a black and white R-4 unit standing between his throne and the Master's and plugged into both.

"This is Arfor-Geethree." Dai-Men introduced. "Jedi Skywalker and Lieutenant Antilles."

The droid buzzed and bleeped.

"How do you do." Tecee translated. "I am very pleased to meet you both as your pilots have substantially reduced the odds against us."

"And what are the odds?" Wedge drawled, shooting I-don't-want-to-hear-this-do-I? look at his C.O.

"One in fifty against." was the answer.

Wedge rolled his eyes.

"We've faced worse." Luke reminded him. "The Death Star for one."

Another comment from Arfor was interpreted by Tecee. "Master Dai-Men has been successful against similar odds with a regularity that defies statistical probability."

Luke was sure he detected a note of disapproval there.

"The Force has been with us," the Master said serenely, "it is with us still."

An electronic rasberry from Arfor translated into "The Force does not compute."

"I know." Dai-Men replied, much amused. Obviously an old argument and one he thoroughly enjoyed.

Jayce came forward to take the fourth chair. "All systems online, ready at your order."

The Master palmed a control. "Jinx to Fleet Control, ready for departure."

"Very well, Master Jedi." Mon Mothma's soft voice answered. "May the Force be with you."

Dai-Men's eyes crinkled into a smile. "That's supposed to be my line, Senator."

What sounded like a giggle - if you could imagine Mon Mothma giggling - was quickly followed a clearing of the throat. "I've been told there's no such thing as luck."

The Master's smile deepened. "Only the Will of the Force." he agreed. "We'll report in when we land on Kessel. Jinx out."

Note: Some of the names of Luke's squadron are taken from EU sources but as I have never read any of the Rogue Squadron books characterization is entirely my own.


End file.
